Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20130805

Today,ominent voices including David Petraeus, are calling for a compromise. And eric cantor went on one of the sunday on one of talk shows to tell what his view might look like. We want to ask you whether you believe a copper rises possible and how much copper mines would you be ok with . The phones are open. Republicans can call at yashin that republicans can call at you can also catch up with us on all of your favorite social atia sites or email us journal cspan. Org. A good monday morning to you. I want to take you to the opinion piece by David Petraeus and a senior fellow at the brookings institution. This is in usa today. The headline that is the opinion piece in usa today. Eric cantor went on Fox News Sunday to talk about the idea of a deal over the sequester cuts for this fiscal year beginning october 1. Here is a bit of that now. [video clip] calexico need to happen is have leadership on this part of the white house to come to the table finally and say we are going to fix the underlying problem that is dropping our deficit. That is the untitled meant programs and the unfunded liability that they are leaving the Entitlement Programs and the unfunded liability they are leaving on this generation. If you would compromise on entitlements you would give up on sequestration. What we have said, leadership alike, is we want to fix the real problem. The real problem is entitlements. We have always said sequester is not the best way to go about spending reductions. It was a default mechanism because congress could not do the job it was supposed to a couple of years ago. To give uss going great opportunity to come together and try to tackle the real problem, which is entitlements. Host we are taking your calls this morning. It compromises possible, how much compromise would you be ok with . The phone lines i want to show you this piece in todays washington post. One of the takeaways as Congress Goes into recess is a grand bargain looks like a pipe dream prayed a bit from that column today dream. Pe a bit from that column today that is in todays washington post. We are getting your thoughts on the idea of a compromise when congress big when Congress Gets back from its fiveweek august recess. Patricia is from warsaw, indiana on our independent on our independent line. Caller i have a comment about this issue. I do not whatent hundred percent agree with the democrats or republicans. I feel both sides have good points. I feelhe budget issue, that it is not a point of whether a compromise is possible. At this point, in our country, optimizes necessary. Compromise is necessary. I thinks, as taxpayers, we need to insist that the people that we send to the capital to represent us from our states need to Work Together foer thr the good of the country. I have seen a lot of childlessness on both sides. It is embarrassing. It is embarrassing adult theye can be this way and are setting up the rules and regulations of the country. I would ask they put their egos aside. In terms of the business of the country, for the people. Twitterry writes in on our democratic line is up next from south haven, michigan. Good morning to you. That first lady took my thunder. I agree with her. When they talk about entitlements, i have never taken anything from the government and they have never given me anything. Everything i am given i work for. Host heres the headline politico had a coming off of their cant yours comments yesterday on fox news. Your take on that. Do you think sequestration is the bigger problem here you go caller problem here . Caller it is. It has never been a good thing. Host do you think there is any room for entitlement reform . If so, do you think there is one program that needs to be looked at more than another . Caller say that again. Host is there any Entitlement Program that you think could use some reform . Security. T my social host thank you for the call. Margaret is from port allen, louisiana on our republican line. Your take on that issue of cantor saying that the real problem is entitlements, not sequestration . Entitlements Social Security, medicare, the seniors pay for that and the little bit they get on is not enough. What they need work on is the welfare and social programs. Explain. Keep going. I understand some people needed. They need help. But you have somebody people out there that i know that do not need help, they are just lazy. Host do you think of that is biggest do you think that is the biggest budget challenge facing the country right now . Caller that and illegals on the welfare programs. Billion a year . Host where did you get that number . Caller i will have to look at the site. Programs elfare caller the Welfare Social programs. John is from jackson, new jersey on our independent line. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. I have been listening to all of these politicians on the radio and tv. To get itlly seems and talk about the real problem. 1000 and i are making per week and your family is ng 1400 per week, is there something wrong with that situation . It is a culture of spending by the American Public . Its a culture of spending by the congress people. We are bringing in so much money year, wiry spending why are we spending 30 more . It is simple, stay within your budget and you will not have a problem. You will never have a problem. Do you think that compromise is possible right now in this climate in washington dc . Caller impossible. Host do you think it might be more possible when they come back from being home with their constituents for five weeks . Think it isnt going to happen. We have to get back to the basics. And you 1000 per week are spending 1400 per week, do you think something is wrong with that family . Host you definitely think theres something wrong with that. Ifler what do you think . You are making whatever youre making and your family is spending 500 more, is there something wrong with that . We want to hear you. How much compromise are you the federalee from government . How much compromise do you think is possible . Caller do whatever you would like to do for the welfare and good of this country within our budget. Host thank you for the call. From new jersey today. We are taking your calls. Here is the next 45 minutes or so. Tweets andng your facebook posts. We will go to stephen next from richmond, virginia on our democratic line, good morning to you. Caller good morning, i listen to cspan every morning. Compromise is not impossible is not possible. The republicans and the tea party, they are a bunch of zeroes. Lookup it took the fiscal cliff to the end. They try to appeal obamacare 40 times. Look at how they are holding onto the jobs bill that president obama went around america. It could put up maybe 2 million jobs. Compromise with the tea party and the regular republicans . They are a bunch of zeroes. They do not want to work with this president. Look at medicare and Social Security. How they want to break that down but the American People work for at all their life. They want to break that down to nothing. They do not care about america. They do not care about this president. Host stephen is from richmond virginia. A few tweets our last caller brought up the idea of the healthcare law and how it is playing into this debate. Heres a story from todays New York Times on that subject also known as obamacare. We are taking your thoughts on these budgetary issues that are facing congress and the country. Ron is up next from tampa, florida on our republican line. What do you think about that proposal to hold off federal federal funding measure includes financing for the Affordable Care act . Forward. Would be all i just think compromises a big joke. The democratsthat have their way. A city in california went bankrupt and had to file for bankruptcy. Detroit is filing for bankruptcy. These democratic cities have democratic policies for such a long time. When they have their way, thats what happens. We continue on with these policies that are being pushed down our throats. That is going to happen to a larger scale. We cannot afford everything. We cannot be everything to everybody. We need to live within our means. I grew up among democrats. I hear this nonsense all the time. We need to live within our means. Host ron is from tip of florida this morning. Is from tampa, florida this morning. We brought up the proposals Tea Party Members are pushing. A possible Government Shutdown if government includes financing for the Affordable Care act and its proposal to extend government funding beyond that date. Todays washington post, he is a republican strategist talking about that strategy as a possible option under his headline scott is from maine on our independent line. Talk about this idea of compromise. Is it possible in todays Political Climate . Caller i dont really think it is. I think what you need to do is concentrate on the problem. In my view that is jobs. There is no jobs here. Nafta, westituted have been on a steady down slide ever since. It has just got worse and worse and worse. They talk about wanting to redo Social Security. I do not hear them saying anything about federal retirement. He said the senators can do to terms and retire with full benefits for the rest of their lives after only two terms. Do you think that is the place were federal government needs to look for its biggest savings . Played a clip earlier of eric cantor, the House Majority leader, talking about entitlements as a place to find federal budget savings. Caller entitlements are not a place to do it. That they need to do is back down on the military spending and they need to stop giving all of these other countries our money. We get out billions and billions every year. Every year just to get our foot in the door and go after their raw materials. Attraction is a would be a good thing for this country, take care of your own protectionis m would be a good thing for this country. Take care of your own. And back off on the military. Lee terry spending is completely out of control. They cannot even account for what they spend. They spent so much of it. Host scott remained this morning on our independent line. A few comments on our Facebook Page we will be taking your thoughts and comments here for the next 35 or 30 minutes or so. I wanted to tell you about the other news going on around the country. This is from the front page of the washington post, we talked about these terror threats that have been issued for american and the season consulate. The headline one of those members who went on the sunday shows yesterday to talk about this issue and how Homeland Security chairman, congressman mike mackall of texas, he was on cbss face the nation. We want to play you a bit of what he said. [video clip] were are on a high state of alert. Were doing everything we can to prevent this threat from ever happening. I must say this is probably one of the most specific and Credible Threats i have seen since nine11. Since 9 11. The state departments warning with respect to the Arabian Peninsula is significant as well. As your commentator mentioned, al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is probably the biggest threat to the homeland. There is an al qaeda faction that still talks about hitting the west. Their expertise is chemical explosive hitting the aviation with thes we saw underwear bomber. We are on a high state of alert. I think the administrations call to close these embassies was actually very smart. Particularly with what happened in benghazi when warnings were not heeded. You mentioned the prison breaks, i find that to be very interesting as well. In iraq and pakistan and literally thousands of terrorist have been broken out of jails and they are spread throughout the middle east now. That presents a very high threat. Is it, can you give me what is itics that has caused you to call this one of the most serious threats since 9 11 . What in particular makes you feel that way . Its classified. Hesitantbers have been to discuss the specifics, as you saw on that segment from face the nation yesterday. Threat seems the to be real. This is the headline from the on page of todays Washington Times from the opinion section of that paper by corpsmen and royce, a republican of california. Five congressman ed royce, a republican from california. I want to play you this, chief of staff Martin Dempsey talking about the threat that forced the closure of the embassies. [video clip] i do not think there has been a mass closing of and the seas since the oneyear anniversary of 9 11. Seriously,aking it which i think you would expect us to do. There is a significant threat stream. Threat,is most recent are the streams of intelligence coming in an al qaeda threat . Clocks it is an Al Qaeda Affiliated threat. It is an Al Qaeda Affiliated threat. Lex is the threat to blow up a consulate or Something Else . The part is unspecified but the intent seems clear. The intent is to attack western, not just u. S. Interests. We get more information on that threats we will of course bring it to you. To show you some of the embassies and consulates affected by this shutdown, here is a map of todays Washington Times, showing the countries where the shutdown is taking place. Algeria, libya, egypt, sudan, iraq, united arab emirates, oman, yemen, saudi arabia, afghanistan, and bangladesh as well. If we find more information we will bring it to you. What we have been talking about in these first 45 minutes of the washington journal is the compromise on the budget issue. And if it is possible. We want to hear your thoughts. How much compromise would you be ok with . Sandra from spring, texas is waiting on our democratic line. The morning to you. Hostcaller good morning. Regarding a compromise, i saw some of the yesterday interviewed some of the interview yesterday that eric cantor did and he said some of the problem was entitlements. What they are trying to do is go back to the paul ryan budget, which was vetoed by the American People. People who have worked all their lives for Social Security and medicare, i do not understand why the republicans are dead set on taking away from the people who do not have anything. Corporation still receive subsidies, they still receive tax cuts, they have money up the was in. They are making money hand over fist. Host if they are looking to pair down the federal budget, where the thing, misys possible . Are we still giving cooperation subsidies when theyre flushed with money . We are still giving them tax payers money, they are taking money from people who needed to give it to people who do not need it. It is our money. They are taking it from people who do not have food, from education, everything. Regarding the embassyies closing, everything happens around 9 11. The sequester includes budget cuts for the embassies. They go on about benghazi but they took money away from embassies for security. That makes no sense. Host sandra is from spring, texas. A few more tweets mike is from North Carolina on our republican line. Good morning. Morning. Ood it would be nice if they could compromise. I dont think they are going to be able to. You are rise is gotten us to where we are today. Ashdeals with entitlements and they are entitlements. I would like to clear that point up. As someone from experience. I am 10 years away from retirement and my mother collect Social Security. The mother is not taking money that she paid into the system throughout her life. Her Social Security check, everybodys Social Security check, everybodys medicare payments, if you are on medicare and collecting Social Security, this is not being drawn from an account that you have paid into for your entire life. This is coming from current workers. It is a wealth transfer program. It is a good one and we need to help our elderly and are sick and poor. But we need to be clear about that, that the money that people are collecting today is being by the current crop of workers to the current crop of retirees. Get you to respond to a tweet i have been in front of me caller yes and no. It is both. Just like with a Family Budget or a business budget, yes we have to grow the economy and the way to grow the economy is for the United States federal government to build a strong u. S. Dolalr. U. S. Dollar. Our currency is our backbone and we need to have a more competitive tax structure in the United States. It has been 20 years since the tax code has been reformed with president reagan and speaker tip oneill. I was around for that. It did wonders to help us during that time. It is what is required now. What we need now is to restructure our Entitlement Programs must Social Security, medicare, and medicaid. Theres a they are unsustainable as a structure. In 1000 baby boomers are retiring every day, and we have less and less workers. That tweet is correct, we do need to grow our economy to create more jobs so people will be paying into these Entitlement Programs to support our elderly and our poor. That is where the federal government comes in. They need to balance their books, they need to practice due diligence, and they need to be good stewards of the United States dollar and the federal budget. Host one other question before let you go, you are calling in on the republican line. Let me ask you about this idea of a possible Government Shutdown over budget funding for the Affordable Care act caller . Affordable care act. Caller i think it is a fools errand. As conservative pundits pointed out the conservatives only controlled the house of representatives. You cannot govern from the house of representatives. I was around for the shutdown in the 90s with newt in grinch. With the way depresses, the republicans will be blamed for this. I think it is a fools errand. I think it is an honorable fools errand. Drastic times call for drastic measures but i think we will pay the price as a republican. As conservatives we will pay the price politically. I understand where they are coming from. I think obamacare is just one more Entitlement Program that is going to cause this country trillions of dollars that we do not have. That is not to say that our Healthcare System in this country does not need reform. I do not agree with shutting down the government or even threatening it. If someone smarter than me said someone smarter than me said, do not take a hostage if you are not prepared to pull the trigger. I appreciate a call this morning. Let us go to the democratic line. Jean is from texas this morning. A chance toive you respond on the democratic line that some things mike brought up on the republican line. Caller i must say, first of all, as a nurse for 36 years, my Social Security retirement is 720 a month. I do get medicare. I think that whats going on in this country is a horrendous power struggle. The power struggle is for money. The fact that we did not take care of the large banking interests and we did not take care of those people who were losing their homes and could make their payments we wasted 3 years in that process. Every time i hear someone say we need to cut off the medicare i just about have a stroke. For 30 years, i can honestly tell you, we did not get costofliving raises. And yet everyone else in the Banking Industry and the law industry, on and nonon, they all got their raises and their bonuses. But i can tell you in the profession of nursing, we didnt get anything except more hard work. Host you disagree with the headline from politico from yesterday cantor says the real problem is retirements is entitlements, not sequestration. Caller i think it is a dual problem. The dual problem is ,equestration is, in my opinion the best of a worstcase scenario. We are suffering from that. We are also suffering from the fact that we have put all of of eggs in the arab section the country, nto tot to mention what we continue to attribute to china and other countries. Host you are talking about overseas spending in sections of the world . Caller that is right. We cannot seem to take care of our own. And yet when they passed the farm bill the cutout school they cutchildren out School Lunches for the children and the elderly. The other thing i think is a total disgrace is that we have people that are elected to gress who have phenomenal phenomenal amounts of money behind them. Brokers. Power in my generation, we have worked all these years to build a and to help make sure that everybodys kids were taking care of, no matter what. Were taking care of no matter what. And now we have another generation coming up that seems so interested in only their own ability to move up the ladder, irrespective of who their stepping on at the bottom of the ladder. Is from a taxes on our republican line this morning. Before we end the segment of washington journal i want to point out a few of the political headlines that were in todays paper am a looking ahead to the 2014 and 2016 elections in terms of the president ial race. This is from the baltimore sun. Before that election is the 2014 election. Heres the front page story in todays washington post, in the style session in the style section, liz cheney and her challenge to mike nz of wyoming one other story we want to take you to is a primary challenge in this is from todays Washington Times host despite those two stories a republican challenges in 2014, heres the front page story of the washington journal the wall street journal this is according to patrick oconnor. That is in todays wall street journal. We have a few minutes left in the segment. Ourh is calling in on independent line from california this morning. The morning to you. Caller good morning. I think that the president is too eager to compromise and the republicans consider compromise as a dirty word. There is a problem witht h the Koch Brothers redistricting. The country is trending toward fascism all the time. Recall, the republicans always promised that they are going to build jobs. They never followed through on it. They never do. There focuses on taking away jobs, education, and the trade policies and and the trade policies, contrary to what is in our best interest. The whole congress is pot is bought and paid for. Oversupport wall street middleclass and poor issues. I do not hear them supporting middleclass and poor issues. Host amy is on a republican line for michigan. The morning to you. Good morning to you. Wondering,m just entitlements, i can see taxpayers saying our taxes are going to the poor. In a rich persons family there are all types of entitlements. Years gets a car at 16 eyars old. Got to have it. I am 56years old and still riding a bike. Re is a lot of host still there . Caller the internet [indiscernible] we are losing her there. We want to note that all four running for the u. S. Senate seat in new jersey are scheduled for debate. We will have that debate live at 7 30 on cspan, 4 30 pacific time. You can see all four Democratic Candidates for the senate seat in new jersey. That is it for this segment of washington journal. Up next we will talk to the fight off of the the fbi Violent Crimes against children. Later, Kaiser Health news will join us as part of our ongoing look into the healthcare care law. We will be right back. We have never really known what to do with our first ladies, and that is particularly readin more recent times on the one hand they are recentd to have times. On the one hand they are expected to have causes. Those causeshand are not permitted to intrude upon lawmaking. It has always been a tightrope. Seeing how each of these women walk that tightrope tells you a lot, not only about them but about the institution and society that they represented. This week we begin our on we begin our presentation on first ladies, influence it image, looking at the public and private lives of our nations first ladies. This week, Martha Washington to angelica van buren. Starting at 9 p. M. Eastern on c span. Program, joins in on the conversation with historian and author patricia rady at facebook. Com cspan. I have been pushing for this in the senate, that we would move cybersecurity legislation. It is bacon cop located. Cybersecurity means Different Things to different people. It is big and complicated. Cybersecurity means Different Things to different people. The house is actually passed some of this and i think we ought to look at what they have done. Certainly if we want to take a stab at doing are only thing in the senate, that is great. But we need to really get moving on this in the senate. This is a real threat, a real problem him and all of my colleagues are on the Intelligence Committee and are worried about cybersecurity. Internetlogy and issues on capitol hill, tonight on the communicators on co. At eight eastern on cspan2. Washington journal continues. Host last week the fbi announced a major operation targeting child prostitution efforts in 76 cities. Michael harpster joins us now to discuss operation Cross Country. G us. You for joinin tell us about this threeday sweep. Guest good morning, thank you for having me on. ,his is the seventh iteration in spite of the initiative we started in 2003. It is the largest to date. As new papers and everybody has put out there, we recovered 105 were, 150 pimps arrested. Clearly a success. Success is not something you want to have, you would like to have lower numbers. That i think it is a statement of what the problem is out there. Host why did the fbi picked these three days to conduct this sweep. Were there specific incidents that made the fbi move on these three days . It seems like this operation has taken place once a year, often in the summers. Guest without giving too much detail on why we do it and when, one can guess that the summer months would be the months more people are outside. Theres is more chance of running across children. There are fewer tracks in the summertime. Other than that. , specificallythat why we headed on this weekend is just timing. People are going on leave, not going on leave. We need to arrange with state locals as part of our task force. They are available and they had nothing going on at large as well. Host you talk about operation Cross Country, this is the seventh iteration. Some stats on operation Cross Country over the years how did operation Cross Country start . Guest there was a consortium between International Center of missing children. In the fbi we knew there was a problem with it. We decided to put together and direct our resources directly aimed at this one issue, child prostitution. Occ phat we do and the rogram. Host we are taking your calls and questions on this issue. He is the section chief of the fbi Violent Crime section erie it phone line section. It phone lines are open. Talk about those that have been arrested. What other charges that they are facing and the typical sentences. Host the statute we use is typically sex trafficking. Transportation of minors for the purpose of sexual and commercial exploitation. With the first one and second one, they are mandatory minimum sentences. It depends on the age of the child for the sex trafficking. If there between the ages of 14 and 17 there is a 10 year minimum. Beyond that there is a 15 year minimum. Those are the two primary ones we used to go after the pimps and the enterprise leaders that are doing this. There are a bunch of local charges that can and do take place. When we arrest will somebody in the streets we look at what violation will get is the biggest bang for the buck at that time. How do we take this person off the street, how do we make sure the victim is safe for the time . We use a bunch of local and state and federal prosecution statutes. Host you talk about the 105 kids that are rescued, we have stats on what studies on what cities they were rescued in. Talk about what happens to those and what the government is doing to keep them from falling into the situations after they are rescued. We are victim centered. We have the shelters out there and we deal with our victim assistance. Office, 56 across the United States, has a victim specialist. That person is part of our team. Child forensic interviewers, six of them, that are highly trained. We are centered on making sure that child has the ability and place to get out of the life they in they are in and get the services they need. Each state is different in to dos to what they have to get a person into a shelter. That is what we are dealing with , whether it be children of the night. Those ngos that have the shelters are aimed at child prostitution, and keeping them there. That is the issue there, making sure they get the services. Host our first call is from eddie on our republican line. Good morning to you. You are on with mr. Harpster of the fbi. Caller thank you. It was reported in february that senator menendez was soliciting sex from girls and they read from girls in the dominican republic. I am wondering if there was information on that. Host is that something you can talk about . Is an Ongoing Investigation so i would not feel comparable talking about it at this time. Stats on the specific operation that the fbi announced on cities in maryland. According to stats released by the fbi, in baltimore three pimps were arrested as part of this fbi sweep. Notashington dc they did arrest any pimps or any juveniles recovered but we do have stats from cities around outcountry that we can read for callers as they come in. Nathan is up next from pennsylvania on our independent line. Good morning to you. Good morning. I have a comment to make about the child sex ring operation upt happened in the late 70s until the early 90s that call for the highest level of government and many of the fbi. It was called the franklin scandals. It had to do with a very shady instate panic evil man name larry king. Not from cnn but a republican from nebraska who is head of the franklin Candidates Union franklin credit union, who is using money from that to fund child prostitution for many different powerbrokers. Host is this an investigation you have heard about . Guest i am not familiar with that case. Here is a question from twitter guest the quick answer is yes, many are runaways, many come from foster homes. There are also those that come from very nice neighborhoods. That was the case here in fairfax county. Inkster crips would recruit these children through social media means and other means. Crips would recruit these children to social media means and other means. What these pimps do is basically prey on these childrens vulnerabilities. These are kids with some needs. When they are from a broken home they need love. They need shoes and food. They get on that with their wit and charm. They bring these kids into these enterprises. Later on with their fist and violence they keep them. About backpage. Com, in recovering some of the parents and children to recover last week. It was monitored as a prominent online marketplace. Co oneis oneo f a of a couple we look at. That unfortunately caters to escort. Sometimes you will see children who are available for escorting. In which other means we would try to identify what the kids are. The back page is something we are dealing with. Is there some thought to shutting down these websites . Backpage. Com said it was pleased by the raids. Ads would bethe pushed to sites that would not cooperate with lawenforcement officials. Guest i can agree with that. Any Internet Service provider is mandated by law to report any child prostitution or pornography on their websites to the center of missing and exploded children. Id. Saying that they cooperate, although should be kwok rate in. All of them should be kwok rating. Should be cooperating. A deeper dive would be nice. They would have to go somewhere else and when they go down someone else will come up. That is the way it is out there. Host we are talking about miners that were rescued him guest this particular one was 13. We have recovered a child as young as nine. Host we are taking your calls and comments as we talk to Michael Harpster. Fbi make public the list of clients . . Ill the clients be charged guest i think theres a misconception. Towill never let a child contact with a john and one of our operation. The way we do business if we see a child we will approach that child and he moves them from thats and remove them from that track. We do not see a of john arrests. We do not bring the child into that kind of atmosphere or situation. Some criticism i was published in the huffington the headline is too little too late unless we fix what the fbi is looking at. Arerites that authorities not focusing on the agile prostitutes and johns adult prostitutes in the johns. I have to view the sex trade as any other instance. It is governed by the law law of supply and demand. If you cut out either or you will not have a business that will draw a profit. If the business is not trying a profitable not survive. More and more children will continue to fall prey to predators who supply them and the monsters who buy them. I want to give you a chance to respond. s role for child prostitution is very limited to a child prostitute as to what to defenses will allow us do. We look at the prostitutes. Where you see agile prostitutes you will find child prostitutes where you see adult trusted to do you will find child prostitutes. Tois important that we work see who they are working for. They have intel that will tell us where children are. Will be done through media campaigns, education. Where also doing training for state and Highway Patrol to get them when they first pull up to a scene or a car on the side of the road. Is where the fbis role is. To try to limit that. The fbis role is very limited in regards to what we can do. Cross countryn and other operations you reported some of the rest of the johns as well back in 2009. I believe the number was close to 700. Are you not reporting those numbers . Guest the johns arrest . I am not sure what they are. Over the time were really concentrating on recovering the girls. At the same time the squads are going out. We are collecting those to determine if it is a success or that havee there boys been recovered . Not in this iteration. There have been in the past. It is not something we are seeing a lot. A comment. Most ills in society are products of poverty and a breakdown of the family institution. Weet howa widespread is it . Is in every city . Guest yes. Every city and town, large or small. Francisco, moyock the whether it be in hotels or casinos. Thisully we are doing through our initiative with the doj, working for training to really get the message out to their. A partner that we deal with. Host you mentioned to some the stats on the city. Five juveniles were recovered along with six that were arrested as part of this latest sweep out in san francisco. 12 children recovered and several more pimps arrested. We want to go to craig from leavenworth. Independent mind. You are with Michael Harpster of the fbi. I live my question is near kansas city. On route 24 in kansas city i go through there every day going back and forth to work. It is ridiculous. As though the Kansas City Police are overwhelmed. And night there are children out there. There are children out there at 4 00 in the morning as well as 4 00 in the evening but no one seems to care about them. Nt the fbi does in the about kansas city . Inst we had kansas city the latest operation. One child recovered and went the pimps came from the kansas city, mo field office. Be the outlying cities or towns. We have 66 field offices. We have 66 child task forces that are spread out throughout the United States. , sans city, boston francisco does have the means to address the problem. That ifhe message out you see something, say something. Call the yield office and asked to speak to the Child Exploitation task force. Give the information so we can hopefully go out there and do individual missions to recover these kids. You called in here. Hopefully you will call kansas city as well and give them this information. Host when we talk about the need for folks to do your job. Can you talk about the budget that the fbi has and whether it has had any impact by sequestration . Has it been impacted by sequestration . Going to get the job done with what we have, whether we have half or all of it. The budget affects everybody. Host but there are cuts. Under sequestration there were cuts. Guest we are still under a different fiscal year. It has not affected what we do in our Mission Every day, recovered the children. Whether you cut it all the way are halfway there are still offices that will address this mission. It is an Important Mission to the fbi. Host if you could talk about the Violent Crimes against children section which you lead up. How has it been around how long has it been around . October 1 2012. We merged the Images Program in our chopper not griffey. It used to be a cyber program. Our child pornography. It used to be a cyber program. Traditional crimes against children are under one. We have one section that deals with every single crime against a child. The innocent images, the chopper not griffey . Guest that is correct. The child pornography . Guest that is correct. Caller good morning. We needed to find the law. What is a child . We have laws across this country when a cake commits a crime child commits a crime they go to court. What is the child . Guest 17 and below. States differ. For the federal offense, under 18 years of age. Host you brought up the idea of recruitment. What if there is a 17 year old that is helping to recruit younger girls into a gang or ring . How do you draw the line . Isst if the 17 are old creating more prostitutes, the underlying issue is she is a victim. We need a victim centered approach. Each state and local agency will it differently. From a federal perspective, we look at it from a victim and do interviews. It will determine exactly what her ownership is in the enterprise. It is not unlikely. We see it where the girls, under fear and coercion of the pimps, will go out and recruit other girls or they will be beat. That is why it is important to take a step back and treat them as a victim as opposed to suspects. Host you brought up the idea of the of the gangs in washington, dc suburbs. Are you seeing any trends in gangs versus individuals that run these . Fairfax there was a case that recruit hundreds of females through social media and direct recruitment face to face. They were successful. We also see it in chicago. Gang out there that ked recruited and traffic kids. We have had two life sentences of their for these pimps who pimps up for these there. Gangs are a part of what we see. Gangs the bigger concern for you . You said hundreds of girls were being recruited in suburban washington, dc. Guest most again members are not much older than these children. Gang members are not much older than these children. They know social media. They can go back into these communities and recruit these young girls. We see gangs doing that. There are the special out there that are savvy that use the girls with in their stable to recruit others as well. An issue and the pimp enterprises. Guest were are here with Michael Harpster. What did you do before you ran the section . Assistantas the special agent involved in the new work program. I was also intelligence. Host how long have you been in the fbi . Guest 1997. Host did you study to become this . Guest i did. We are looking for computer experts, language experts. We run the gamut. We to have a diversified group to go after them bring onto the fbi because we can see a diversified type of crime. There is no one particular expertise. We are looking for the best of all worlds. Yourhost we are taking questions on operation aCross Country. The seventh iteration took place about a week ago. 105 kids rescued from prostitution rings. Littleshowing you a busier now of some of those arrests. This was released by ebs the eye as part ofe fbi these arrests. If you can talk about what were seeing seeing in the videos they are. These were taken the night of these three . Guest this is footage of the task force at work. Taking your calls and questions. Dave is up next from largo, florida. Good morning. Caller good morning. Ncmec accountable ands the ncmec accountable groups that work with the f the fbi in their zealousness to go after full. A lot of times i the they do i think they do things that are illegal like to perjure against people so they can did them off the street. Perjure but only photoshop things and put it on websites and try to incite people to do that sort of thing to frame people to get them off the street. The fear and hysteria that has been created. A something you have seen . Guest it is not something i have seen. Law enforcement arm. They are not out there making arrests. They are not out there interviewing the kids. They are a database. They are funded by congress. Congress does look over their budgets. Congress could hold those fun pull those funds back. I have no evidence. Ive never heard them doing that. Ngos themselves, im not seeing that. If it is happening, report it to the fbi. I have no evidence of that happening. Host what are some of the other key groups that were involved specifically in this bust that happened a week ago . We had the command post up and running. Thathave the database collects the missing kids. We will take them from certain cities and run that against the databases we had to see if we can target those children. That is something we have become more intelligent lead. We have gone more forward leaning in regards to sending out these packages off the field. Others we work with, health and human services. We try to identify shelters that are better fit for what we do. There are limited beds out there. We want the ability to put these kids in shelters and not just staying in a criminal justice system. The victim also has contacts. They assist us in getting them to a safe location to conduct interviews were they feel safe and get them away where they can talk to us. They can get the services they need. Those are some of the top ones. Talk aboutu can what congress is possibly doing to aid in your efforts. This story is from news channel 12 down in mississippi following the revelations about operation Cross Country. His shows improvements needed they know the child sex trafficking response act of 2013 was streamlined Data Collections and report on sex fficking by requiring a republican saying that this legislation is intended to improve the ability of caregivers to ensure that children at risk and get help that they require. If you could talk in general terms about what that would do for him. This is an issue for us. We estimate about 60 of may be involved in child prostitutions. They may be solicited. It is an issue we are aware of. To make sure that when a kid goes missing a third or fourth or fifth time from these foster homes there is a tendency to not report them. Why bother . We need to know when and where they may be going so we can more actively track them and keep them from being alerted to this. He talked about some of the johns who use these and crayon these children. Start jailing the johns who use child prostitution and putting their faces on page one. Is from Miramar Beach florida on our independent line. You are on with Michael Harpster. People in the fbi did it take to do this latest crackdown . I have a followup question. Guest we have 66 field offices. These task forces can have anywhere from one agent to 10 Task Force Officers or up to five or six agents with the same amount of Task Force Officers. And this particular iteration we had over 200 and change of state and local agencies working with us. Numbers. Know the exact 100 or probably had maybe 200 and involved. Host i will just note that there were some numbers from florida swept up in this latest buzz. Three juveniles recovered in tampa. Four pimps arrested in miami. I will get some other florida stats for you. Go ahead with your followup. Am wondering how many people does it take to get this job done . This is unacceptable. Thate talking about kids are going to be affected their whole lives. You know, if someone does not stand up and do the job. What are the numbers that it takes . What do you mean by get the job done . You want to see larger number of arrests . Caller heck yes. Tohink every american needs know that every child that gets hurt is killing us as americans. I was raised in the neighborhood you can run around in and play baseball. Noah was prowling around on people. Was prowling around on people. Now it seems there is no help. Youve got to remember. 100,000aking at least a year. How many guys like you does it take to save one kid . Host ill give you a chance to respond. Had we get the job done . Guest the actual number, i do not know. Times have changed. We have a lot of stuff on our plates. My particular section also covers child abductions, and international kidnappings. There is a lot of stuff going on. There is a lot of work being done. We are doing what we can do. That is why we are engaged with the ngos and getting out training so we can increase that ratio of numbers out there that will be able to identify this and really react and make these arrests. Theres also the role. The fbi has a limited role in this. We we have to count on our state and locals to try to reduce that demand. It is an issue. We are trying to deal with it. I understand your comments. We are doing the best we can do. Host were talking with Michael Harpster, the chief of the island crime against children section talking about operation Cross Country. Were rescued from prostitution rings just over a week ago. In a sweep ofsted more than 70 cities across the country. We are taking your calls and comments. Burt is up next from oakland, california on our democratic line. Good morning. I live in oakland. Particularly in east oakland there has been over the past five years and increase of children that seem to be as young as 10 or 11 years old on the streets i met young girls. They canly hardly walk in high heels. Is not improving at all. It seems as though the police have a handle on this. I am sure it is happening all over the city. It is very visible. It is right in your face. Sunday mornings when i go to church out there, you see little up and down. Rls, some boys out there pimping the young girls. They only maybe a few years older. I would like to know if the f bi is duke anything about the situation here in oakland that has epidemic proportions . Guest what were doing in general is dealing with our partners and the state and local specifically. We are working without the international chief police to put out a whole list of roll call videos that will go out Law Enforcement across the united andes for we have the tools mechanisms to identify some of these but dems, where they may be. These are victims the be. Imess, where they may i hope oakland will be part of that program and they can act upon your concerns. Host the caller asks if things are getting better. Compare prostitution in america now seven years into operation Cross Country to where the situation stood before we started this effort . Guest we are looking at the numbers. Eithert guess it is equal to or little worse than it was back only first initiated the program. That is why we initiated it. The codes tork on be able to track the Police Officers what they will do to help us track crime. We need to work with the locals and states to make sure they check that box for the child prostitute. ,f theyre not making an arrest how will we know . We are working on getting those better in the future. You touched on this before. You recover the children that where did they go now . Many do not have decent homes to which they can return. Uest that is our key issue getting them into the shelter with the best services. Each state is really different and the way they have their laws and what can and cannot happen to a child but dont. Child victim. In other states it does not have to happen. We are working to i defy to identify shelters that have strict regulations that we can give out to our task forces and others, make sure those kids go to the right places. That is this something could require congressional help . Is this something you have asked congress to look into . Do not know. Probably a little bit of both. Just had initial meetings with the health and human services. Whether or not they need additional funds would be up to them, whether or not the states can give more funding for shelters would be a great idea. I will leave it at that. Larry, independent line. You are on. Aller hi i have two questions and then a comment. One is our drugs affiliated mainly with these pimps and children . Yes. drugs will be a lower to get them there. Lure to get them there and once they are there they will be addictive. They use that to keep them. If we were to shut down the border would we not slow drug problem we have in the United States . Ert. T i am not a border export host doesnt your work involved children being brought in from across the border . A we do not teach child in xcoordinate, the they will engage in sex with children whether it will be cambodia. We see a lot of adult outbound. We do not see the children in balance. Michael harpster is the chief or the fbis Violent Crime against children section. Thank you so much for joining us. Fill of Kaiser Health joins us. We will take a look at the amount of money the pentagon spends four generals and admirals across the armed services. First, a news update from c span radio. , asome International News top u. S. Diplomat met earlier today with a failed Senior Leader of the muslim brotherhood. This is part of efforts to end the standoff between the military backed government and protesters supporting mohamed morsi. Silliam burns and diplomat theted the deputy head, group from which he hails. We will learn more about the situation in egypt from the you canast Institute Watch this live on cspan. Confirmed as u. S. Ambassador to the united nations. She is on twitter. Honored to sit behind the sign that says United States. Values andd up for interests at the un. You can follow her on twitter. Those are the latest headlines. Ive never really known what to do with our first ladies. On the other hand these causes are not permitted to intrude upon the lawmaking or an official capacity. It is always been a tight rope. It tells you a lot about them and the institution. This week we begin our encore presentation of our original series, first ladies, influence and image. Host thank you for joining us this morning to try and going onte what is across the country. Let me read you three headlines. This is from cleveland. Premiumim obamacare rates to rise 41 . The washington post, here is why Health Insurance are tumbling in new york. And the miami herald says Health Insurance prices will spike. What is going on with insurance rates right now . What do we know for certain . Obamacareot of the benefits are about to take effect starting in january. A big part is these Insurance Exchanges that states they could help people who buy insurance on their own or those who do not get insurance at work. Many of the millions of uninsured now. There has been a lot of concern with some of the changes that Health Care Costs with some of the changes that health care some of the the changes t Health Care Costs well sell insurance. Away because they think it is too high of a risk. Is other big change insurance cannot charge more for people who are sick. Cancer or diabetes they cannot charge more for you. How thought in terms of prices because of that. There are also some things that are forcing down play. That is these new Insurance Exchanges. People can shop. All the plants will be standardized. You will have gold plans, silver plans. Right now when you try to shopper Health Insurance most of the benefits are often different. It is difficult to compare plans. Right now we are seeing states come out. Some states have reported their premium numbers. We are seeing this the board. New york is going down. Other states say they will go up. Right now we only have a portion. More we can get into detail about those states. We are talking with Pfizer Health news. It is a nonprofit news service. For those that do not they are editorial independence from the Kaiser Family foundation which are not affiliated with kaiser permanente. They are trying to help america understand this law. If you have questions or comments we are doing our lines a little bit different. If you are injured give us a ring at insured we want to hear from folks who work as insurers as well. Those lines are open. They are on your screen now if you want to give us a call with questions or comments. Of whenut the timing this will all happen. You mentioned this in your previous comment. October 1 is when in rome at the gens. Enrollment begins. Ofst people have a total six months. The earliest coverage can begin in january. Host you talk about folks who are shopping on these marketplaces. Who is shopping . We will speak to those who are to have insurance. If they have insurance to their workplace, probably not. If they are buying insurance on their own or for Small Businesses those two categories last the millions of people right now who are uninsured. Out cannot afford what is there. If they have been turned away because had preexisting medical conditions or they have not thought about it too much. These are millions of people who are expected to look at these exchanges. The Obama Administration has tried to make a big push. A lot of people may not show up. We should care about that because there is a concern that only the older and sicker people will show up and buy insurance. While it will be good for them, it will not be good for the whole system. That may cause insurance costs for everybody to skyrocket. There has been a big push that is just beginning in august and september to get the younger and healthier people to get out so they can balance out the risk. Host we are focusing specifically on insurance rates. We saw some headlines about creamy him stumbling in new york and are rates going up rates tumbling in new york. We saw newreason york rates fall was because new york has some of these provisions in terms of guaranteed issue. Rate in new york are already much higher than the rest of these country. That were in state law required insurance for everybody. Because of that the insurance prices have already been up. This is one reason why we are seeing prices go down. Healthcare costs is a big. Actor lower cost regions may be lower than higher cost regions. Arkansas may feel less than new york. The other major factor is competition. You tend to see prices a little bit lower. We split the lineup by those who are insured, not insured, and insurers. Are on. Down and go ahead with your question. Caller as soon as the whatcare law is in place, would happen to people who are on medicare . The rates are supposed to go up to make for the deficits or what have you . Guest no. It does not affect people on medicare. Themain change has been free preventative services. There has been a doughnut hole. For the most part, no. There has been some concern about medicare. One of the ways it has been pay away sometaking money from hospitals. They get paid on medicare. There is the increase in money will that they pay hospitals. That will go down a little bit. The increase will go down. That is what is going to help a for the expansion. We have a line for those who are uninsured. George is on this line from oklahoma. Good morning. I have two questions. , i guess you get the premium free. Where is the cut off . 20,000, 40,000 two where you do not have to pay a premium . If you i need to know can live on 45 thousand dollars a year 45,000 a year or 50,000 a year to take care of your family and your insurance. At it. T 60 have to look 45 or lucky and makes a 55. What would your comments be . Guest this is a major point. It is not only the Insurance Exchanges but for the first time we have subsidies that will help many people afford coverage. If you make between Poverty Level wage for Single Person is is about 11,500 or 400 of the Poverty Level you will be eligible for government subsidies to help lower the premium. This is a major part of this. People are eligible. Six 2000 to 40,000 would be eligible for families. Guest for families of four. The subsidies are key. Even if Insurance Companies go down or stay the same it is the subsidies that will help people afford the coverage. If there is ang maximum to pay outofpocket. The first year will be about 6,300. That is the maximum you will pay outofpocket. Right motion not have an outof pocket maximum. That is it is super high. Host going back to the question of the premiums, will premium supports the based on 2012 income . What have you underestimated . Guest that is a key question. Most Government Programs when you apply you base it on what is your actual income. When you go to the exchanges these are places you go online. In many places itll be health care. Gov. In some states theyll have a specific website. Some states are running their own. How many . Guest there are only 16 States Running it on their own. We are getting back to what will this be. Yet to project what your income will be in the following year. There will be a little guesswork out there. The government will be checking information you provided by arrest records and make sure you are telling the truth. At the end of this itll be working out in the following year. When you find out what your income was in 2014, they will reconcile the subsidies to make sure you do not pay too much or too little. Guest are you allowed to shop the exchange if your employer offers insurance . If they do not offer you affordable coverage, you will be able to shop. Host who defines that . Guest how much of your income you have to spend. A lot of folks expect this. Maybe so costly that people cannot afford it. Lets go to our insured line. Frank is calling from charleston west virginia. I am on medicare. I have a supplement. They will also be competitive. Can i get a better rate . No. T medicare is not part of this. Does not affect people 65 and over. I have a supplement with medicare. I have to buy that that myself individually. Will that become competitive aser obamas here as well someone who does not have insurance at all . Will my supplement become competitive. Unfortunately not. He medicare supplements are not part of the Insurance Exchanges. Our uninsured line. You are on. Caller this is my first time calling in. Ive been watching for a long time. Ive been uninsured since 2010. With this new law coming into excuse me, i am sorry. I wonder if i will be eligible to give some kind of insurance. You have to either be pregnant or you have children. Would i be eligible to get some kind of insurance through them . Ive not had a job in three years. Paid by personal check. Can i still be eligible for some kind of insurance . Guest you raise a really important point. A big part of obamacare is the expansion of medicaid. Under 130 eight percent of the Poverty Level would be eligible for medicaid. Of the Poverty Level would be eligible for medicaid. Were seeing some states are putting forth the expansion. About half the country is not. Right now tennessee has not officially said which way they will go. As of right now they have not decided to expand medicaid. What would happen to the people that would have qualified . If you fall under the poverty you can go to the exchanges but you will not be eligible for the subsidies. In a lot of these people tough position. There are millions of people out there that are in states that are not expanding medicaid. They are not eligible for subsidies. They are going to be left in many of same positions they are right now. On places Like Community Health Centers or go without. That is why there has been so much pressure on states. The key threshold is if you get to that 11,500 mark you would be eligible for a huge subsidy that would cover 90 or 95 of the premium in the exchanges. Host i wonder if you can talk folks. What happens in terms of penalties for those who will remain uninsured pass the time this gets in. The peninsula is quite light. It is 95 25 or 1 of your income. 95 or 1 of your income. Over the next couple of years the cost will go up. In 2016 the cost would be 695. Before people panic, the penalty is not apply to the very poor. If you are very poor and cannot afford insurance you do not have to worry. There has been a lot to talk about i cannot afford this. And heres the government going to penalize me. The large majority of poor people who cannot afford the coverage, a penalty does not apply. Phil were talking with of Kaiser Health news. Were talking about insurance rates and premiums and taking all of your questions on the Affordable Care act and your comments as well. With Kaiser Health news. Here is a recent story he made with them on approved pricing for insurance marketplaces. Talk about this issue of what we are seeing as he watched these premiums come out. Comingthese things are out one by one. There has been some politics with these numbers. California and new york have presented all the premium numbers. You can go on there today and look and see based on certain things. As i mentioned before, insurers will no longer be able to write insurance policies based on your health status. There are some things that will bury the cost of insurance, your age. People in 20s will pay less than people in their 60s. A smoking status affect it. If you smoke in many states you will pay higher rates. Another factor is where you live. Within certain cities rates will vary. There is not one rate. We see things across the board. Things come and less from vermont and south dakota. Prices have come and comparable to where things are today. This is a good thing. Oute rates are coming before he even talked about subsidies was all have a lower cost. There have been some states that for theirut this release put out a little bit of information. They said they have seen an increase in their cost. Ohio talk about specifically. There seem to be a battle over what the numbers really said. The Insurance Department claims obamacare premium rates to rise 41 . Guest right. Again it is an average. Ohio has not put out all their numbers. Need to people remember it is not say what this will pay today compared to what they will do tomorrow. These things vary dramatically. These do not come out of subsidies. People really want to look and see. We are seeing an average increase go up. I think what people want to mean towhat does it them . What does it mean at their age . People have a question about what is affordable coverage and what is not. Right now for people who pay nothing for health, there are millions of people who do not think they need Health Insurance and do not get healthcare. They do not pay anything. That is a lot of money for Health Insurance. There are other people who are sick and do have a lot of healthcare costs and would be grateful to pay a couple hundred dollars. Affordability depends on your situation and how much you value Health Insurance. Insured line our from massachusetts. Good morning. Caller i want people to know theyin massachusetts compare obamacare with romney care. Worked withnt here the federal government. 3200 a year for a family of four. I save i get 1500 back on the credit card i can use for my copays, medical devices. I am a smoker. I have a preexisting condition. Peopleck and tired of sing obamacare will cost a lot of money. It is your government and the state you live in. It can work. It will work. I do not know why some people are scared about it. It is already up. It has been running for quite some time. Has been aachusetts prototype for obamacare. Massachusetts by most accounts has been a great success. In terms of reducing the insured in helping get people and affordable option. About 2 or 3 does not have insurance. Nationally about 16 of the population do not have Health Insurance. Massachusetts has worked. They stood they did start in 2007. Massachusetts has been the prototype. Started with only about 7 . Can you really say it is equal to what it is in california and texas . That is the big question. What are the uninsured rate . Guest one and four people in texas do not have Health Insurance. Five. Rida it is one in havingare not used to Health Insurance. There is a much bigger road to climb in the state in texas and florida. Right now texas and florida are two states that are now extending medicaid. There is even more pressure there. Host the question on the subsidies issues. Can you please tell us who pays for all of the subsidies you keep talking about so often . Where does that money come from . The funding for obama care funding toes from hospitals overtimes as well as some hired taxes on upper incomes. This is where the wide majority of the money is coming from. It is not coming out of the patterns of most americans. Coming on other parts of the health industry. Insurers are going to be paying a tax. Tanningoing out to salons are paying a tax. This is where it is coming from. You might say if they have to pay a tax to help Fund Obamacare is in it going to be passed . The question is yes. They can tack on that cost to the premium. Even with that extra cost and maybe a good deal for people with the subsidies and other factors. We split up our lines between insured and uninsured. Were talking about insurance rates under the Affordable Care act. Good morning. I was just calling, it is just me and my wife. The spirit ie drive a school bus during the school year. That is not a whole lot of money. I want to know what do we need to do whenever it starts kicking in to get on what we can give them. We need to be able to go to the. Octor some help of some kind. What do we need to do to get started and get on this . A whole lot you can do except get your documents in order in terms of showing what your income is. On october 1 youre going to want to go to helpcare. Gov healthcare. Gov. There will be a pulldown menu based on what state you live in. It will encourage you on your exchanges. The year therell be many places and taxes that will help walk you through this. There will be these navigators and the sisters. You can go to the Community Help us health center. If your internet savvy a lot information will be online. Find itates you might right on your Insurance Exchange website. They say they do not plan on doing it before october 1. That is when you can start. This is probably going to spin something you will spend a couple of hours looking at. Youre going to want to look at a couple of things. A lot of folks focus on premiums. It is a big number. You will be able to calculate how much you would pay each month. You also want to think about the copays. And what, if any, are the deductibles. Adopt the bulls, you pay these costs ahead of time before deductibles, you pay ahead of time before insurance kicks in. And the plans, if you are going to a doctor, are these doctors in your Insurance Plan network . You will have to ask that question. Host you brought up the word navigator and assistors. Guest new positions. They are not insurance agents. There are people basically who will not tell you which health clan health plan to buy. They are not going to save planet x is better than plan wide. But they are people who can walk into the process. Host federal, state employees . Guest for the most part no, they will not be federal and state employees. A lot of nonprofit groups. I think we will see people like chambers of commerce, united way, you religious organizations. The government, both the state and federal government has put a lot of dollars out there to help people sign up for coverage. So, they created these new position to help people. Especially sit down. Kind of like when people signed up for the medicare benefit that started almost a decade ago, they found out a lot of the information is online. A lot of people want to have someone on in front of them walking them through it. There will be phone numbers to call. The exchanges, not only will they have information on the website but there will also be a phone number to call where you can get in person assistance. On twitterdividual asked about the navigators. Guest i think people should always be concerned about healthcare privacy. But in this case, i think these people are signing contracts with the government that this is why they are there. And the people who are in these positions i typically advocate for the poor, people trying to help people sign up for coverage. So, i would not be any more worried about that then putting your credit card number into expedia or travelocity. Host can you talk about some of the roadblocks some states have run into in trying to get information out there about the different plans . Jody wright in on twitter writes in on twitter. Guest ok, that is disappointing. A handful of states have started putting out commercials colorado come over again to build demand. Buildorado, oregon to demand. 78 of americans are barely available there as a law, let alone subsidies. I would still keep calling. If you have any problems calling that number they provide on the screen, call your local Insurance Department because they will have basic information in many states on where to go. It is still a tad early right now to start shopping for coverage. Idea ofant to get an where the premiums are, Kaiser Health news this morning on our website has put on our website the information from about 10 states right now that have shared some of their premium information. A handful of those states are california, new york, vermont, oregon, where you can get an idea of whether prices will be. On our insured line from lancaster, pennsylvania. Good morning, frank. Caller good morning. Yes, i am calling i heard you say it will be 6,000 out of pocket expense for a person who gets into this insurance thing here . 6,000 you have to pay before your insurance kicks in as far as what you have to pay for yourself . Guest know, after you pay the premium in other words, your copays and deductibles, that is the maximum you would pay for those things. There still might be for some young folks in their 20s, then new thing called catastrophic plan, and they have a deductible of i thousand dollars that you may have to pay. Though typically the adoptable of 5,000. Though typically for preventative care. But im talking about what you have to pay out copays and adoptable after you pay the premium. For the most part, on some of the most popular plans, i think we will see deductibles closer to the 500 range for the most part. That is what i have seen. A number of states have come out. Just to give you an idea, they will say, how much is the stuff . Again, it varies by city and age. People in the 20s, any of the states have put out information, premium amount 200, in the 40s, 300, and the 60s, a little higher risk am a they will be on a 400 plus range. We count thefore subsidies. The subsidies could knock down the costs by half were even more, depending on what your income is. Host i should note we read a tweet from somebody having trouble getting through to their states Information Bureau on the healthcare law that was from arkansas i believe i said arizona. The tweet was from arkansas. We will go next to john from ellington, georgia, on our uninsured line. Good morning. All her cohow are you doing this morning . I would like to know caller how are you doing this morning question mark i think anything you pass without knowing what is in it, all to be like chinese food. Is it going to be kaiser people or aarp people . These intimidators will come of your house, will there be two of them, anybody to watch them . Stealing stuff, are they bonded . I will take my answer off of the air. Host some concerns about the system. Suest there are no death panel in the healthcare law. There is information to help people out there to talk about death and things like living will, but there are no such thing as death panels. Host he was concerned about the navigators as well, the folks will do when they show up at his house. That nobody will show unless invited. Although we do have people knocking on doors in communities with high rates of uninsured to ask if you want more information. But when you sit down with a navigator to talk about insurance, and if this is a new option, they will ask simple questions. They will ask you what city you live in, your age, and what your income is. Those are some of the factors that will determine what insurance is best for you and how much of a subsidy you will be eligible for. So, those are some of the main questions. They will also ask you about what your health that is is. Are you somebody goes to the doctor a lot, a little . Those are some of the factors you want to think about when purchasing Health Insurance. Calling in on our insured line from topeka, kansas. Ron. t think we have we will go to ed from winston salem, North Carolina, on the uninsured line. You are on with Phil Galewitz. I watch every morning usually when i get ready to head out from my days were. I am uninsured. I have been. I do a novel thing. Expensive i pay a bill or i make arrangements with the people who give me the treatment to pay them if i cannot afford. My wife has had several surgeries, i pay for all of them. I myself. I would wish just that when you people dont be so disingenuous and say government. Instead of the word government, say your friends and neighbors. Because that is who is paying when you dont pay a dollar or 100 or 500. And you say there are no death panels. When kathleenews sebelius refused to give a 10 yearold girl to get a waiver to get an adult young. What you call that a death panel if a judge had not stepped in, that little girl would be dead. I call it a death panel. I will take your answer off the air. Ost a few comments guest if you are uninsured and you can take care on your own, that is unfortunate. Unfortunately there are many people who cannot afford to see a doctor or get basic care like mammograms and immunizations for their kids. So, insurance hopes of them cover the cost. And insurance to cover the big bills. Even if you can afford the 50, hundred dollar cost when you go to the doc there. People largely need Health Insurance because of fears of serious illnesses or injuries. It is not uncommon to go to the hospital today and come out with 50,000, 100,000 dollar bill, which the majority of americans cannot afford. That is the reason why people need Health Insurance because they do not want to bankrupt themselves because of injury or illness. Some of the basic costs on your own, that is fine. One thing you mentioned as far as having to do with cost shifting. Some people pay less means other people pay more. One issue we have in the country is that because so many people dont have Health Insurance, and when they do show up at the Emergency Rooms and hospitals and doctors tend to eat these costs because there is no way they can bill and impoverished person, they pass on those costs and it passed them onto Insurance Companies and Insurance Companies pass on those costs to people who are paying the bill. In effect, we are all paying the cost of the uninsured. Host as we are talking about the issue, talk about the politics of it as well. What the political consequences are weather insurance rates go up or down. There is a story that you wrote for Kaiser Health news. Take us through the politics of this. Guest sitting here in the saddle of the capital, a lot of this is about politics. The Obama Administration has a lot invested in this law and wants to make sure it works. You will hear a lot of positive things about the law from them. On the flipside republicans who unanimously opposed the law have a lot invested to make sure this law does not work, because they have opposed it from day one. So people have to remember when you are hearing and reading things everywhere that people who are strongly democratic have the real big reason to want the law to work and those who are conservative and republican have a lot for it not to work. You want to get information from people who are nonpartisan who did not have a very heavy democratic or republican sway. Again, it might have impact on the next election . Sure, it will. Host and on some of the budget negotiations happening later this fall . Guest possibly. We are not going to know really if this law works i think until at least sometime next year, until we see how many people show up. When you say, does it work . The question is, what is the criteria . Expectation from the Congressional Budget Office is that 7 Million People will sign up in these new exchanges in this first year, by the end of march. That is one barometer. How many people will show up. The other question is, what will happen with Health Care Costs . Will it go up, will it go down . We will know a lot about that on october 1 when we see some of the numbers. We will know more as time goes by and how americans weigh in when they see these numbers and see how much impact the subsidies have, see how many more people have affordable Health Insurance. Those are some of the fact that when people say, is the law working, is it not working . It depends on where you are sitting. If you are uninsured and have cancer and cant buy Health Insurance and october 1 and in january you can have Health Insurance, affordably, yes, it is working. If you have been working for a Large Corporation and you have Health Insurance and it does not affect you and your healthcare costs may go up, you may question what this healthcare law is doing for you. Host talking with Phil Galewitz from Kaiser Health news. He has been reporting on the National Health industry and covering the health beat for about 20 years or so. Post at the palm beach and kaiser media fellow before his current role. It time for just a couple more callers. Market from lincoln park, michigan, on the insured line. Good morning to you. Caller i have a question. I work for a labor union out of detroit. The way i work, as long as you are working, your insurance was being paid for, but you have to have so many hours. Say you are off for a month, because that is the Way Construction works, you lose that and you do not it your insurance until thou was built back up. You could go for two to be oh or three months. How is it going to work . Guest one thing we have not talked about the law is the employer mandate. I think that is what you are referring to in the call. All employers with more than 50 fulltime workers are going to be required to provide healthcare coverage. Right now about 96 of those employers already provide coverage. This law makes sure they all do. But this provision that was supposed to take effect this january for the 14, has been pushed back one yearto 2015 because the Obama Administration was late getting some of the roles out and they decided to make it easier on employers and push it back. The question is, what is full time . Under the rules so far they made it 30 hours fulltime. At is the number of hours they will consider a fulltime worker. If they dont provide you coverage, then they would pay a penalty, and those people can get coverage on the Insurance Exchanges. Host charlie from baltimore, maryland, on the uninsured line. Good morning. Our co caller the morning, everybody. I had a question before my real question. If you could clarify. Im not sure you said obamacare but you said it would be funded by changes in, i guess, medicare allocation and also taxes on the rich and then he followed up and said it is not like it is coming from any new taxes. I wanted to clarify, it sounds like it is coming from taxes. The second part, the individual mandate it was my understanding that that is kind of what makes this whole engine run. 31,individuals like myself, unemployed and uninsured right now for the past couple of years , if we do not buy into the system than it sounds like half the American Public does not want this i am a registered democrat, by the way, for what it is worth. I understand both sides of it. But if you are getting half of the population not buying into these exchanges, isnt that somehow going to affect the solvency of the program . And my quick side that side comment. I live in Baltimore City where there are a lot of individuals with medical conditions out of hospitals. Somebody like myself, 30 one, i am thinking, i see abuses of the system every day. I am paying money out of my pocket 20 200 for a premium, 20 premium, versus 90 penalty and i am thinking it is not going to get paid because i am going to pay it because i do not believe it. If all of these other people are not believing and paying into it, does the system actually work . Guest it makes a lot of good points. If you dont get sick, you dont need help insurance. Unfortunately we cannot predict when we will get sick or injured. That is when all of a sudden if you think a 200 Premium Sound expensive now, if you contract an illness or step off the curb and get hit by a car or have an injury and end up with tens of thousands of dollars or 100,000 of debt, people are going to want to wish they did pay the 200 premium. It met on how much you value Health Insurance. There is a portion of the public that still has to be convinced on the need to buy Health Insurance, and that is why there is a big push in commercials, a lot of one on one counseling out there to help convince people that need to buy it. Again, there are going to be a lot there is going to be a lot of pentup demand. People have been turned away. People have been illnesses have been waiting for this day, january of 2014, for many years, and cant wait to buy Health Insurance. If you other side are a 25 year old and never been to a doctor, a may not see reason to buy it. The other thing as far as taxes go at the end of the day, almost all taxes are going to flow down to the consumer. If a medical Device Company is being taxed to help pay for the coverage, at the end of the day, the tax its pushed her down and they will charge the hospital, the hospital charges Insurance Company and Insurance Company will charge more. Almost all taxes get pushed down and we all feel some affect. But in terms of direct new taxes, the only direct new taxes are for people making really much higher income. 250,000 a year paying a higher direct tax. Most of the other funding is coming out of some of the healthcare industry, as a mentioned before. Hospitals, Health Insurance companies, medical devices, it which is where some of the money is coming to pay for it. The individual mandate is a key part of it. If we are all which, we could wait and buy Health Insurance when we get sick aired inc. Of having property insurance for a house. We wish we could wait until we knew when the tornado or hurricane would hit and that is what we buy insurance. But the purpose to buy insurance is we never know what we are going to need it. That is why people have to wait. That is why buying insurance, we are trying to balance our risks and paying a little cost now some people think is a better deal than having a huge cross later down the road. Host Phil Galewitz is a Senior Correspondent with Kaiser Health the news. You can catch up with him on twitter Phil Galewitz. Thank you for joining us in this segment with Kaiser Health news. Up next, we will have your weekly your money segment where we take a look at the amount of money the pentagon spends for generals and admirals across the armed services. But first, a news update from c span radio. The state Department Says online chatter has prompted u. S. Officials to keep diplomatic posts in some 19 muslim countries those through at least the end of this week. Some of the embassies and consulates are in rwanda, egypt, jordan, and libya, where last september 11 for americans, including the u. S. Ambassador, were killed in a terror attack. Lawmakers say officials have intercepted chatter from high level people in al qaeda about what they call a major attack. Politics, turning to Vice President joe biden heads to New Hampshire later this month. He will appear at a fundraiser for the states democratic governor. The fundraiser is slated to be held at the home of a lobbyist. A station in hampshire notes the trip could stoke speculation joe biden is preparing for a white house bid in 2016. In an interview last month the Vice President made it clear he is not ruling out a run saying i can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of america. But it doesnt mean i wont run you. New york republican congressman peter king is testing the waters. The 11 term congressman is in New Hampshire today and tomorrow. Thanks linking says i believe the Republican Party would be receptive to my candidacy. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. I have been pushing for this in the senate, that we would move cybersecurity legislation. It is big, it is complicated. The word cybersecurity means Different Things to different people. But we need to get this done. Actually, as hard as it is for me to say that the house has done something right i am teasing, they are fine but they have actually passed some of this. And i think we ought to look at what theyve done, and certainly if we want to take a stab at doing something in the senate that is great. We need to move on this in the senate. It is a real threat, a real problem. And all of my colleagues on the Intelligence Committee, they lay awake at night worried about cybersecurity. We need to get this done and it is imperative this year. Technology and internet issues on capitol hill tonight on the communicators at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Washington journal continues. Host each week this segment we look at how your money is at work on a different government program. This week we take a look at how much we compensate senior members of the u. S. Armed services. To do that, we are joined by Todd Harrison of the center for strategic and budgetary assessments here in d. C. Mr. Harrison, this is a subject that briefly received scrutiny in washington following the fallout on this of the scandal involving former general David Petraeus last year but it became also as the department of defense eyes additional cut under sequestration. Here is a headline from thursdays wall street journal that article notes, among other things, that there are plans for possibly shrinking the army from. 90,000 down to 380,000 are all the ladies cuts coming from the lowering ranks or do there need to be cut at the top as well . Guest the pentagon has not laid out details so it is still to be determined how they actually make the cuts. But it is fair to say the cuts will have to be proportionate. At the senior officer ranks will have to be cut at least in proportion to the junior ranks. Arguably, the senior ranks have swollen and a greater pace over the past few years than the general force. And the drawdown, there might need to be some reshuffling and cut disproportionately from the senior ranks. One of the areas where general and flag level officers have grown has been joint staff and the office of secretary of defense and combat and commands. The is one area of secretary of defense specifically highlighted for cuts. He is calling for a 20 cut in the budget of those organizations. We dont know yet how that will translate into the number of uniformed personnel. Lets get the numbers of highranking officers out there. This, according to the white house and also the office of senator tom coburn. Fourstar generals, about 35 of them in the active u. S. Forces in 2013, general and senior flag officers, a little under 1000. Officers in general, about 237,000 and about 1. 1 million and listed. When you talk about a higher ranking folks, talk about the job that they do now. Are all of them in command of soldiers on the battlefield . Talk about some of the jobs they perform. Guest they are not in command of soldiers in the battlefield. We do not have that many troops deployed. A are the head of perhaps an Acquisition Organization or they run an Acquisition Program themselves, or they run some component of the Headquarters Staff or they are in the joint staff. A lot of them are doing senior level managementtype jobs. The interesting thing is, we look at the compensation of general officers, and you are talking Cash Compensation, they typically make around 200,000 a year, some a little more, some a little less depending on rank. But the cost is all of the staff that goes with them. A fourstar officer does not travel anywhere by himself. They were often travel in a small motorcade. They will have a number of people who go with them, go ahead of them, security to go with them. So, there are a lot of expenses. Host lets give the folks numbers on monthly pay. Officers with 20 years of service, according to the department of defense. These numbers that we are going to show you dont include a retirement am a health and some of the benefits. Monthly pay for a fourstar general or admiral, almost 16,000. Threestar Lieutenant General or vice admiral, almost 14,000. Two star major general, rear admiral, 13,000. One star Brigadier General rear admiral, almost 12,000. We look at examples of yearly salaries as well. Fourstar general or an admiral with about 40 years of service, aarly salary about 217,000 year, colonel or navy captain 154,000ears service, a year, Master Sergeant 20 years service, 90,000, corporal or Senior Airman with four years, 52,000 a year. Todd harrison, tom coburn has been big on possibly looking at these numbers and finding savings. He pointed out recently, he compared the numbers of admirals and Senior Officers with our world war ii levels. He noted that during world war ii, we had a 12 million person military and about 2000 generals were flag officers. Now we have about a 2. 5 million active and reserve military force and about 1000 generals and flag officers. Are there places for cuts . Talk about the proposal tom coburn put on the table . Guest the proportions of change because the nature of warfare and the nature of our military has changed since world war ii. It does not necessarily explain all of it. But, for instance, we now have an all volunteer force. We rely on a professional military who are more highly trained, highly skilled, and we can be more selective in who we recruit and who we retain. And the systems that operate on the types of missions that they are required to perform are much more complex than in previous decades. So, it is understandable that there would be a bit of rank inflation relative to like the world war ii era. But with that said, we certainly still have a higher proportion of general officers than we used to even just a decade or two ago. There are things they can do to roll it back. To pick up on your point on compensation levels, before people start calling in saying i dont make that much in the military. That is Cash Compensation. Total Cash Compensation that goes in their paycheck. It is not just basic pay, but it is also allowances for housing, allowances for subsistence. What you did not mention are the tax benefits. Those allowances for housing and subsistence are taxfree. For a general officer making 200,000 a year, the tax benefit could be 20,000 a year. The thousand dollars less the revenue the edible government pays in and lets the payout of the pocket. In told of the tax benefits for uniformed military end up costing the federal government 15 billion a year and lost revenue, so it is significant compensation and it does not even come out of the defense budget. Host taking your calls with Todd Harrison, the center for strategic and budgetary assessments here in d. C. He is a senior fellow studying the defense budget. You can give us a ring and we will take your comments and your questions. The phone lines are open. Republicans can call host we also have a special line for active military folks you are calling in, we want to show a lead of defense secretary chuck hagel talking about the growth of military pay obligations and what it means for the pentagon. [video clip] post911 war is over, and the second, our nations longest war, is coming to an end. Overall personnel costs have risen dramatically. And 40 above inflation since 2001. The department cannot afford to sustain this growth. Reflecting these realities, the president fiscal year 2014 budget included a package of modest compensation related reforms that had the strong support of our uniformed leadership. Congress has signaled its opposition to some of these proposals, including modest increases in tricare fees for working age retirees, but given our current fiscal situation, dod has no choice but to consider compensation changes of greater magnitude for military and civilian personnel. That is a harrison, proposal chuck hagel has put on the table. Flesh it out a little bit more for us . Guest after he gave a press briefing, a small group of us from think tanks were allowed to have a meeting with secretary hagel and we are able to asking questions and flesh it out a little bit. First of all, they are actually not proposing any specific changes right now. They outlined a number of options. Some of these are options that they tried in the past with congress and they failed to get them implemented. Some of them are different takes on similar things. But really what they are doing here with the sect what secretary hagel has laid out, is a process. He asked the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the other service chief and the senior enlisted members to get together and put together a set of recommendations and Compensation Reform and to bring them back. He has given them a target of 50 billion in savings over the next 10 years, which is relatively modest compared to the total amount of military compensation over the next 10 years. I think hes got the right group of people to deliver that message to congress. The reform has got to come from Service Members themselves if they want to have any chance at all getting that enacted on the hill. Host a question from twitter from todd what percentage of the overall military budget is in salaries and how many military personnel . Guest 1. 4 million in duty and another 800,000 or so in National Guard and reserves. Compensation makes up about a third of the defense budget. Another 800,000 dod civilian employees, and their compensation makes up about seven 7 billion of the total defense budget. If 77 billion here if you put it together it is about half of the department of defense budget. Host we are taking your calls and comments in this segment to Todd Harrison. Phone lines are open. Nd from warren, ohio. Caller would one way to take care of this is to increase the level of performance before promotion, before you pass over . People touiring perform at a higher level before they are promoted . Caller before they are passed over they make it passed over before they were not, but now they would be. Guest yes, that is one of the reducinghandles compensation costs and reducing the size of the force, is to reduce promotion rates. Bit of actually had a the opposite happening the past decade, particularly in the army. Around 2005 orts 2006 where the army had a shortage of officers in the middle ring, middle ranks, so they were promoting people at a very high rate, not seen in previous times. Now we are at a point where there are people in the senior officer ring in the army who in rank in previous times who would not have made it. That is a question now, something they are going to have to deal with. One way to reduce the total size of the force is to read to reduce your total compensation costs, is to be a bit tougher on who you promote and allow people to leave. Host jack from new jersey to talk to Todd Harrison of the center for strategic studies. Jack, good morning to you. Caller good morning. How are you . Host go ahead, you are on the air. Caller the reason why i called was that you made a comment earlier that general officer might make did you say 30,000 . 200,000 a year. Caller i think it is more than that. I think they are up to 4000 or 60,000a month, closer to or 70,000. One thing i find interesting you might know this more than i do but if you are low ranking and two with a wife children, i believe you can qualify for food stamps. There is quite a disparity between the retired and enlisted ranks. The other cost i think is not picked up by the military is the va. Im quite familiar with that. I am a vietnam veteran, and i collected disability from the va. But thats all i really wanted to comment on, those two things. Host lets let Todd Harrison jumped in. Guest several things. In terms of the pay in terms of members of the uniform military, you can look it up online. There is a good calculator out there that dod puts out there. I do not have the web address off the top of my head but if you google military pay, you will find it. There is a dod website where you can look it up. Rank, years of service, number of dependents, and it will give you the cash on the station so you can see for yourself how much the general officers are making. As far as the food stamp question, that was an issue years ago. A very low ranking enlisted person with a large number of dependents, in certain circumstances there were some members of the military who were qualifying for food stamps. Congress took note of that. They took a number of steps to prevent it from occurring. To the best of my knowledge, that is an extremely rare situation today. You would have to be a very low you woulde2, e3, and have to have a very large number of dependents. More than two children and a spouse. That is asomething much of a concern today. Of course, if that ever happens, that is indefensible, and we should not let it happen. The last point i think you had in their war veterans cost, the cost of Veterans Benefits and services. These are funded through the department of Veterans Affairs and not through the department of defense, though they are not part of the defense budget. Talking about things like g. I. Bill for education benefits, which the new g. I. Bill now, a Service Member earns credit that they can use to pay for college tuition, that is transferable to their dependents as well. So, serving in the military, you could actually pass it onto your children when they are ready to go to college. But other things like veterans disability, Veterans Health care, all of those things are funded by the department of Veterans Affairs. The budget right now for monday 14, they requested 150 billion, much higher than it used to be. Just before president Obama Took Office it was just that 100 billion a year and these funds are not subject to sequestration, so they are not being cut like the rest of the federal budget. Host Todd Harrison as from the answer for strategic and budgetary assessments, csbao nline. Org. Talk about what your group does and where you get your funding. Guest we are a nonprofit, nonpartisan defense think tank. Nationalon issues like Security Strategy and resources. That is where i come in on the budget side, resources side. We get funding from a number of different sources, through private foundations, grants. We do some work with the department of defense and others. A variety of sources fund our organization. Host how long have you been there . Guest a little over four years. Host what did you do before . Guest i was a contractor with booz allen hamilton, and it worked with the air force and other department of defense organizations helping them with their Acquisition Programs. Host we are talking about pay and funding for some of the top military commanders. We mentioned at the beginning of the petraeus candle puts a spotlight on this. Heres an article from november 17, 2012, talking about the issue. It noted that commanders who lead the nations military services and those who oversee troops around the world and joint an array of free work with billionaire him including an executive jet, palatial homes, drivers, security guard, and aides to carry their bags, prep their uniforms and track their scheduled in 10 minute increments. Their food is prepared by gourmet chefs. If they want music with. Dinner parties, their staffs consummate some in a String Quartet and choir. Tell us about the fallout from that scandal and how it focuses on this issue . Guest my favorite story is while he was traveling overseas, he required his aides to give him fresh sliced pineapple just before he went to bed every night. It certainly gave the impression that some of these general officers like detritus petraus were pampered. And quite frankly, in my dealings with general officers, i have seen it as well. I have been to their homes for dinner at evening, and they will have a chef who cooks for them and their family in their home and often times this chef will not even be a low ranking person but be a rather highranking senior enlisted person who works as a chef. All thend of amazing perks that go with being a general officer, including business jet. Talking gulfstream type a lot private business jet that they can fly around the country in the world. I think most people would be surprised at the level of benefits of these general officers command. Host one of the arguments is some of these folks would probably make a whole lot more money working in the private sector, if they were not serving in the military. Guest and they often do. After they leave the military they will go on and take procedures positions in industry and make a lot of money. But i think the difference is when you are in private industry, it is private money paying for it. When you are in government service, it is taxpayer money. I think that is what is what issue comes in. Host after the focus on the general petraeus candle, was anything done to ratchet back the spending on maybe the perks are salary . Guest not as far as i have seen. I can give you a good example. Even at the pentagon they had these executive dining facilities for very highranking military and civilian people. It is not just enough to have one executive dining facility, you have to have three in the pentagon. I had you not one. They are very nice. Timesu have to wonder in of austerity and we are trying to cut back and focus on maintaining the quality of life for their troops, maintaining military readiness and combat and military capabilities, it makes you wonder why we are maintaining facilities like that. Host we are taking your calls and comments with tired Todd Harrison. Watertown, south dakota, on the republican line. Good morning, ike. Understand thet discussion on the military pay side. My son has been in there for over 20 years now, and every time he moves, if he moves from one camp to another with his family, he always ends up in a situationsebted because of the finances he has to undergo to get to camp. He is in germany now. Sweat his duty or anything, but i see these guys from the irs and these other , i seeom the government them shrinking their duty. Were not complaining all wholeheartedly on television about that. Ofst you know, that is one the hardships of military duty is you are required to move quite a bit, move your entire family often all over the country and around the world. Interestingly, that is expensive for the military. When the military causes you to relocate, they do pay your moving expenses. Of course, there could build the additional expenses you might incur, especially if you own a home somewhere and you have to leave at home and you have trouble selling it or renting it out to someone else. You could end up moving much losing money. But just to put it in perspective, the military spends about 4. 6 billion a year just moving members of the military. 4. 6 billion a year. Because of you are an officer and you want to make it to higher ranks, you have to hold a lot of different jobs and check the box in a lot of different types of experience if you want to make it to higher ranks. So, you have people moving. Often if you look at the bios of general officers, you can see the change jobs every year and a half to two years, and that is quite common in the military. Host we talked about the pay and compensation for some of the most senior members of the military. From someonece retired from the army, he is a news military analyst and author with a piece talking about the issue. He noted that it looks as though the navy will soon have more admirals then ships. Host talk about some of the history of the proposals to maybe make some cuts in whether it is compensation or some of the other perks that senior military commanders have gotten over the years. Guest going back to secretary gates, former secretary of defense, he noted the problem as well, and that there were too many high level general and flag level officers and their ranks needed to be reduced. But it is a hard thing to do. It will take time. When it comes to compensation, there hasnt been a lot of effort to really force Compensation Reform on the seniorlevel officers, in particular. It has been a broad effort. I think part of that is because the people who are going to be recommending changes, even under the new process set up by secretary hagel, to have the chairman of the joint chiefs and senior emmitt smith advisors to come up with recommendations on Compensation Reform, it is better seniorlevel people who will be coming back with those recommendations. The system as it currently is really works for them. It works quite well. It doesnt work for all that well, where there may be some inefficiencies in our compensation system, i do 80 of people who join the military and do not make a career of it. 20 years tonot stay earn all of the Retiree Healthcare benefits. The question is, in Compensation Reform, who will speak for the other 80 question mark about half the people who join the military only served for five years or less before they get out. Who will speak to them for them when it comes about reforming compensation . What i fear is the reform the joint chiefs will come back with will basically be acrossthe board. Lets reduce the pay scale. Let everyone take a smaller pay raise than they otherwise would have been given. Those types of reforms, they tend to cut the forms of compensation the lower ranking people value the most. Host we are talking with Todd Harrison from the center for strategic and budgetary assessment. You can check up catch up with him on twitter and you can aonline. Org. Sb the next 10 or 15 minutes in the segment we have left we have a line for active military. We want to get your take on the pay levels for some of the most senior levels in our unit u. S. Military. Jason is on that line from san diego, california. Independent. You are on with Todd Harrison. All her co caller good morning. I am active duty naval officer in san diego. I served in afghanistan in the heyday of halliburton. I was wondering, i know there have been a lot of cuts with the contractors, the military hires. My experience in afghanistan, you have these contractors making it of you oh two, three times as much active duty military doing the same job. Whatever your comments . Talk about contractors. It is important to divide up what type of contractor we are talking about. There are the wartime contingency contractors that you were speaking of. And of them come in iraq afghanistan. I know just a year or two ago we had it as many contractors working in afghanistan as we did active duty troops. One we had about 100,000 troops in the search, we had about 100,000 contractors working as well. Fairly new occurrence. I am using contractors using contractors at that scale. It is new for the United States. The other type of contractors are the Service Support contractor, like i used to be at are allen, where you basically providing Systems Engineering or Technical Analysis or Administrative Services for the department of defense. The third category of contractors are what i like to call the mental vendors benders, they actually make the product dod buys. The last category, if you will, dod actually does not have much insight or control over the size of that contractor workforce. That is determined by the defense industry. Dod just places orders for equipment, and the industry figures out how to fill the orders and what the work force should be. That is not something dod can control directly. When it comes to Service Support contractors like booz allen, saic, you name it, that is something dod can control. But they also unfortunately do not track the headcount so they cannot tell you accurately how many of these Service Support contractors they actually employed. Estimates are that it is somewhere close to one million Service Support contractors employed by dod. If you walk around the pentagon, it is easy to believe it. There are many of them. And you have the contingency contractors we used during wartime. Contingency contractors are coming down as we draw down our forces from afghanistan. So, that is naturally going to run its course. But it is a good question for future conflicts, how much we want to rely on contractors for doing things. Conflicts like vietnam, korea, world war ii, we used our soldiers were a lot of tasks that really were not unique to the military. The image of soldiers peeling potatoes back in world war ii. We dont use our troop for that anymore. We have an all volunteer force. They are more expensive per person and are much more highly skilled. It would be a waste of have them doing things like food service, so we are contracting out things like food service and base facility upkeep, laundry, things like that, for deployed troops. They are being done by contractors. Some of those contractors, about 10 15 are doing things that really do start to overlap with what our troops are there for, like providing security services. But it is a good question, what do we do for future conflicts with contingent when it comes to contingency contractors. Soldiers generals to ratio, we compare it world war ii to today. How does drone warfare and a more complex battlefield play into the argument of how many soldiers in general there should be in todays military . Guest it is an interesting situation. Point, usingurning automation and Unmanned Systems for more of our military capabilities. I dont think it really has changed the force structure just yet, but in the future, it really could. Now we have troops that can be flying a uav that is armed or unarmed and those troops can be located in nevada or mexico or wherever, sitting out of a trailer flying this thing remotely and you need only a minimal force in the theater to launch and recover the aircraft and do any maintenance on the aircraft. So, i think it could potentially have a Significant Impact on the structure of our all volunteer force and what types of deals we need and what ranks we need people in. You can imagine, for things like Unmanned Systems that can be operated remotely continent away, that you can do more and more of that with members of the guard and reserve. You can pull them up very quickly. They can go in, they can train. You know, realistically, using simulators because that is exactly what they are flying anyway. Looking at a monitor with a joystick. And they can actually perform combat missions quite easily, and they do not actually have to be deployed overseas, so you can use them more readily. Host a comment and then a question from twitter. In writes keep in mind the importance of retaining talented leaders. Another viewer writes in i think a certain amount of our entire compensation system is really a holdover of what we inherited from the british. Of halfook at the idea pay for life after service, it goes all the way back to the british, where we got it from. We have not always followed that, and we have altered it in different periods in our history but i think a lot of what we inherited today i mean, just the division between officers and enlisted in the military, it is not something you see in the rest of our society where you tracks andrallel very little crossover or a begat crossing over from one to the other. That is something that is carried forward in the military. It used to be a Simple Division was, the enlisted guys did not have a College Education and officers do. But that is not true anymore. You see a lot of our enlisted Service Members, not only do they have College Degrees but they have graduate degrees, masters and phds. Of carrying over this kind antiquated system of once you go in as enlisted, if you want to switch to an officer, you have to start over as second i really wonder whether or not it is something that needs to continue into the future. Host we are talking with Todd Harrison from the center for strategic and budgetary assessment. Dennis is up next from montclair, new jersey, on our independent line. Good morning, dennis. Caller can you hear me . Ok. War,back to the korean when i received 29 a month and my wife received 75 a month and we were supposed to live on it. That was the beginning of the korean war. However, my question is, i understand that the end of world five fourstars generals, around 1944, five fourstar generals. How many fourstar generals do we have today . Guest i think you have the number early. Host 35 fourstar generals today, just under 1000 general and senior flag officers. Just told you something about what is happening to our military. Guest and thank you for your service in the korean era. I think it does show there has been some rank inflation in the military. As i said earlier, part of that is due to the changes in warfare, the changes in the way that we fight. Some of it is necessary. But in recent years it seems like some of that may have been excessive and something that could be rolled back over time. Host dale from ohio on our democratic line. Good morning. Mainly i have a question on the retirement part of this. They call Social Security and medicare and entitlement. Why is the servicemembers, government workers, their pensions and insurance not considered an entitlement, too . I dont distinguish the difference in the two. Maybe you can this thing was. Guest in a technical sense, in the budget there is no category for entitlement in the budget. You have Discretionary Spending and mandatory spending. And like Social Security, medicare, medicaid, they come out of mandatory category spending. Things like military retirement pay and Veterans Benefits and Services Also come out of mandatory accounts. Entitlement has become a politically loaded word. It is often used to describe Social Security and medicare programs like these. I think your point is valid. Military retirement system and military health care, for that matter, is an entitlement in the truest sense of the word. It is something you are in overtime and therefore are entitled to by virtue of your status. Same with Social Security and medicare. You pay into your system. You reach a certain age. You are entitled to the benefit based on your status. I have used that phrase in the past, referring to military entitlements and i know when others use that as well a lot of military retirees take offense because of the politically loaded nature of the word and tying it into Social Security and medicare. But on capitol hill, more and more people i talk to they say, hey, if we are going to reform military compensation and Retirement Benefits in particular, it really should be in done in conjunction with when we are doing things to reform Social Security and medicare. I think it is something that could be part of a package deal in the years to come. Besides tom2 coburn, are there other members pushing for perhaps no caps on paper senior members pushing perhaps for cap on paper senior members . Guest and none come on hand. You completely eliminated it does not really make a dent in balancing the federal government budget or reducing the defense budget. Really it is all the accoutrements that go with those positions. It is about eliminating the positions and reducing the rank structure overall and the trickle effect that come down. The Todd Harrison is with center for strategic and budgetary assessments. Thank you so much for joining us. Guest thank you. Host that is our show for today on washington journal. We will take you now live to Johns Hopkins school for advanced International Studies and middle east institute for a forum on the future of political islam. Today in this lovely auditorium, and towe are gathered here today continue our discussion about egypt. Onstar arab Transitions Program act in april. Theave been exploring trends and the new dynamics coming out of egypt over the last couple of years and months. We hosted politician and egyptian activist two weeks ago. Council of the atlantic spoke and examined many of the reasons leading to the protests in june and july. Continuing in the tradition featuring a diversity of voices, we welcome scholars ahmad atif ford and Jonathan Brown todays discussion