will show you that video. we will also hear from the mayor, former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel and hear your thoughts on the video and the shooting in chicago. to-748-8000 is the number call if you are a democrat. republicans used 202-748-8001. independents and all others -8002. for chicago area residents, the number to call is 748-8003. you can join us at facebook.com/c-span. post your thoughts and send us a tweet @cspanwj. we welcome your e-mails, too. good morning and welcome to "washington journal." here is how the story is playing in chicago media. their headline online this morning says " shooting video latest stain on chicago's policing record." mayor rahm emanuel announcing the release of the video. we will show you that momentarily. here is the front page of "usa today." " chicago on edge after video of teens shooting released." they say protesters chanting "16 shots" took to the street after a video of a cop shooting of a teen was released. the city braced for more reaction. wednesday butprotest were emotional largely peaceful and police officers on bicycles rode alongside demonstrators. earlier tuesday, the white police officer was charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting the black teenager 16 times. officer jason van dyke arrived in the cook county criminal courthouse tuesday morning with his lawyer by his side to turn himself in. the state attorney office said that vandyke repeatedly timesquan mcdonald 17 after the young men had an encounter with police officers on october 20, 2014. we understand from news reports that officer vandyke reportedly had been fired from the chicago police. we are going to show you the dashcam video from that october night. we warn you that some of the images you will see our graphic. here's a look. . [video clip] host: there is no audio on this video, by the way host: this is october 20, 2014. 17, is laquan mcdonald, chicago area resident. yesterdaydeo released by the chicago police. back to the "usa today." they write "under the court order, they release the video that captured footage of van dyck shooting with donna. mcdonnell can be seen walking down the middle of a thoroughfare. he appears to be walking away from police when he is first struck -- yesterday mayor rahm emanuel spoke about the shooting. anyone who ceases for the one they care own judgments of jason van dyke and his actions. the actions in the video will be vetted and discussed in the days ahead. appropriately. but we as the city of chicago, all of us, also have to make an important judgment about ourselves and our city as we go forward. will we rise to this moment that this incident demands of all of us in the city? in my view is this episode can be a moment of understanding and learning. will we use it and question before all of us, will we use this episode and this moment to build bridges that bring us together as a city or will we allow it to become a way that erects barriers that tears apart the city? mayor rahm emanuel yesterday on the release of that police video in the shooting of laquan mcdonnell by police officer vandyke. here is jerry in detroit. your thoughts on the democrats line. caller: good morning. thanks for having me on. what the video suggest is what have been saying all along about white racist cops. i have a feeling that even though this officer has been fired and charged with murder, i think that the white community will still rally behind this often, as and will they usually do, will try to use the black on black crime argument in chicago to try to justify this and a lot of other police shootings across this country, and they will use the black on black crime argument as a distraction for what we are debating. we have several incidents, as you know, all across this country, and all too often speaking as a 50-year-old black man that the white community will use these, use that argument to justify these cases. and they tried to change the subject from time to time. and i hope this footage of this incident in chicago will confirm what we in the black community have been saying and the indifference of the white community, because they really do not take this issue seriously enough, as far as i'm concerned. and that's pretty much my opinion. host: let's hear from houston. this is mary on our democrats line. welcome. yes, you are on the air. caller: my name is sandra, not mary. my concern is, why did it take one year and the courts for this to be released? and what is the credibility there, as the mayor of chicago? where is the credibility of all lives are valued and black lives should matter? my third thing is, i feel that the mayor values are not, black lives don't matter to the mayor because they say the city budget is 40% is the police budget. the city budget is for the police. he closed 60 schools? and education -- and our kids are getting a substandard education. our police of out-of-control. the race issue is being targeted. young black males. there is no compassion in that tity for poor people or the mos vulnerable people of that community. my heart goes out for them and my heart goes out for the men in makingo come choices that are going to better the lives of the poorest and mo st vulnerable people. and that is where a valuable, quality education. host: sandra talked about why wasn't the video release? that is from october 2014. "the washington post" writing on the release of that video. in april, the chicago city council approved a $5 million settlement with mcdonald's relatives. but some in the community say that it took -- here is barbara new york. hello, go ahead. caller: yes, good morning. army in the united states nurse corps. as i watch these events occurring, the black men, i -- served with blacks, asian, spanish and to see how we are being targeted as black people and our black boys. i don't understand why is it that so many police officers hate black men when we are side-by-side with officers during the war? my grandfather was in world war i. my ex-husband was in vietnam. i can go down the list. felto they think black men when they see their children being shot down? work together.to we need to support each other. we are one nation. and to see what is going on with isis, you're only bring about more hatred in our country. i hope our politicians get together and start working with the police department, because relatives who are police officers and they are feeling the same thing. you do not know the discrimination within the police department. i was a registered nurse. i saw it in nursing. i am hoping and praying that we can unite and work together. thank you. host: comments on twitter. here's john in new york. that was cold-blooded murder. why was it covered up for a year? whose decision was it? terrible tragedy. it is on the mayor's washed clean up. is he getting the job done? joe in alexandria, virginia. good morning. independent. caller: i have a brief comment which is similar to the last one. i think the system, the system is not working. when the first officer shot him, the second officer was watching. and the prosecutors waited all this long to charge. they should not spend long investigating the case, because what she was saying, the same thing what i am looking at the video. so, i think they need to look into the system. and make sure it's working properly. thank you. host: we will show you the video later on in this segment as well. it's available on a number of media sites online. john, hello there. caller: good morning. "100olding a book called years of lynching." this has been going on since beginning of time. now with the video capability of cell phone cameras, it is coming out. but it is nothing new. now, nobody's asking the right question. are white people genetically inclined to lie, steal, and murder? of course they are! how do you lose all the pavement in your skin? there is trauam thma there. white people are different species. where have they gone untreated people of color fairly? host: do you think it is fair to castigate a whole race based on one person? castigatings not her race. it is dealing with the biological reality. host: here is myrtle beach, south carolina. eric on our independence line. caller: how are you doing? with all these shootings and stuff, my biggest concern is this. nomatter what the race, matter what the problem, law enforcement needs to learn one basic rule. and i was in law enforcement, ok? yes, i was in the military. i was in united states coast guard. and i took maritime law enforcement. and the main thing was was this. you use the least amount of force to compel compliance. it's just plain and simple is that. on't wantems like i d to get into the race card, but y es, there is a lot of, uh, black s that are being shot. and it's just, it's just a terrible thing. when need to start getting our law enforcement people a little don't know.um, i a little bit better, uh, qualified and trained to deal with certain aspects. our demographics have changed a lot in this country in the past 50 years. or 10-15 years. report said the officer charged, jason van dyke, there are reports he has been fired by chicago p.d. the news report says he has been an officer on the four since 200-- on the force since 2001. we are asking your thoughts on chicago's release of that police video in the october, 2014 shooting, of 17-year-old shooting and killing of laquan mcdonald in chicago. 202-748-8000. independence and others. and chicago residents, that number is 202-748-8003. in washington, this is ashley, democrats line. caller: i am most disturbed by these reports that there was a woman on the scene who witnessed what happened and she stayed, even though the police asked people to leave the scene who were witnesses to be a witness to what happened to the boy. and she claims that she was intimidated by police and then the story that police erased the video at the burger king showing the shooting. going to say i do not believe or do not understand, because this is what has been happening. we see the evidence of it, but it still, it's inconceivable to me that this could happen and nothing is being done. this just seems to be a complete lack of integrity, and the people are supposed to serve the public. and i just cannot believe that more people are not outraged that this can happen. because if it can happen to black people, it is happening to everyone. you just, those casese are not publicized. i cannot imagine that this would stand in the united states. host: here is a tweet from jenn they reported the family of the victim did not what the video released and asked for calm. the today" writing about release of the video. they said the city had with his theresistant releasing video. the cook county circuit judge said the deadline for wednesday after the independent journalist brandon smith sued the city arguing the city violated the state's open records law by failing to release the video. take a look at part of a piece by "the wall street journal" this morning with their headline. "video released in chicago." they say that the state's attorney said the decision to prosecute was made because mr van dyck had not faced in meat. threat because he continued to fire at the -- had not face an immediate threat because he continued to fire at the teen. mr. mcdonald was hit by 16 sho ts. "clearly this officer went overboard and he abused his authority. i do not believe the force was necessary." here's louise. good morning. a call from chicago. caller: living here in chicago i have noticed two things. and i have all kinds of friends here. i have european friends, african-american friends. i''m a senior citizen i have noticed all kinds of things happening. there is a mindset in chicago because there used to be a housing project. because of that, a lot of people from from the south and other areas, wherever, to live here. and the people got used to putting black people down because of that, because they --e extremely, you know, green was extremely out of the whack of the north side. and everyone else had everything going for them. black people always walked around and were pointed at. of thef people help some kids but it was a mindset that started in the city. and you can fill this -- feel this mindset even though it is not around here anymore, and most of the people have been shot and should -- stuck in chicago southside areas. in th southside areas, homeownerse have to deal with these people who have been dumped over there because they are setting chicago up in the north side to look really pretty and clean and neat. all of thee dumped people to the south side where residential people live with nice property and everything. so, that is why you have all the shootings. host: you say "they've dumped." how did this process happen? what is causing that in chicago? caller: well, i don't know if mayor daley or rahm emanuel did it but they are tearing down all the older billings in chicago and drawing the poor people into areas where -- the black are thrown in those areas. it's known. you should have a segment on cabrini green. i even contacted the alderman on the southside and i said, why you letting all of the poor people -- it's your values that with -- all of the people the same values being dumped on the southside of chicago in residential areas where homeowners and values live. i don't know. i'm not into knowing the best thing to do and i do not have the power but i do have a mind and i notice and see these things. want toher thing or mention. because this city, chicago, is set up to be what they call an international city. rahm emanuel wanted to be an international city. he wants people coming from everywhere around the world, bring money and tear down old things. bring in developers from all around the country. and when the developers come in here, they tear down and build new things. and black and white, people have just been stressed to move out of their neighborhoods and try to find places to live. the rents are going crazy and the sellers are not going up to match the rents. host: thanks for your perspective. here is louisville, ohio, republican line. rick, good morning. caller: the racism started in this country when people were put in shackles and puti in the hull of a boat and brought over here as slaves. but modern time, now i am 57. i grew up in detroit. i know all about racism. the population had no percent of the wealth. and ronald reagan gets elected and wants to change that. to philadelphia, mississippi, and he announces i am going to run for president. and philadelphia, mississippi, they made a movie about philadelphia, mississippi. that is where the civil rights leaders were murdered in the 1960's. they made a movie about it. so now we're talking about isis over here with iteris. -- the terrorists. the real terrorist organizations are the nra and the tea party and they are created out of the deep, dirty south. i told you one ronald reagan took office, 1% had no wealth. the way the top 1% keeps their wealth -- it is two ways. you have the financial policies, you have the bonds, they whatever. oil, the other part that the media -- and the media, those three states or five states control all the media. texas, georgia, florida. then the east coast you have new york and connecticut. what the media has done, it is a strategy, a strategy, racism is a strategy. when i grew up in detroit in the 1970's, it was hatred. host: tie all this in to what you are seeing from chicago in terms of the racism you are talking about. caller: well, it's not chicago. chicago, you know, it is one of the largest cities in the country, but i do not think if you go to houston or l.a. or new york -- new york is different because that is where all the billionaires live. they've taken their police state to the next step. protesters were on the streets of chicago last night. also in minneapolis for the past several nights tying in the two stories of the two cities. "police officer charge with the murder in black teens death." the answer story about minneapolis -- anti - police protests -. asks suspicious individuals to leave. police say five people were shot in the attack which unfolded late monday. near a police precinct where dozens of protesters have been camped out since the shooting of two marquardt. authorities arrested a 23-year-old white man who remained in custody tuesday evening and a 32-year-old hispanic man. two more men turn themselves in on tuesday afternoon. let's hear from iron river, michigan. randy on the independents line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to say this goes back a years. we got to go back all the way to 1937 when they made marijuana illegal. because those colored people were making money on it and white people do not want to making money on it. they can continue to pay their land as long as they can pay their mortgage great if you take away their money and their right to be there, if they have to work for minimum wage, they pay no mortgage. you can kick them out of that community. this is been going on for years and years. you look through o ur history. we got cities and united states in illinois called anna. ain't no niggers allowed. host: we are going to ask you to keep this a civilized conversation. a difficult topic. keep this a civilized conversation. let's go to athens, ohio. on our democrats line. caller: i think what we're seeing, to me, over the last four or five years is with the videos of the violence against people of color that has, it's gone on for decades. and we all know this. well, for centuries. the -- it transformed in the way racism and oppression are delivered. i'm not saying all police officers are racist or bad, but i am saying that this has gone on for decades. and now people are validating the oppression and the racism of the killings, the beatings. a 12-year-old clevelandi. host: how do people validate that? caller: they are validating it with cameras. they are documenting it. then the public is seeing this. things we do not want to see, because we would like to think that this is over. and it's not. think young people -- it is beautiful they are protesting. it is important that they keep it peaceful. and it is important that they verify, there are five when things like this take place which is way too often. things likeen this take place. it is important for all of us to deal with honestly and the situation in chicago, there are lots of classes about why they delayed the video. i think it is so absurd, msnb shows only a part of this young man being murdered basically in the streets of chicago there. why? there is so much violence on television. yes, i understand honoring, partially honoring the family's wishes, but you know, we need to see how brutal it really is for individuals who, i mean, the police officers -- even a police officer said the guy should've held back much earlier. officers. 8 other i think it is important for us to see. i want to make a request of cspan. msnbc, they are talking about educating the public on the refugees and syria. andi hope you have -- flint hillary mann -- former cia directors. they are experts on the middle east. but to educate the public about, you know, hey, i voted for obama. but how the obama administration continued the bush administration policies by instead of negotiating with assad, he's a murderer, but negotiating with him about a power-sharing deal five years ago with -- on their incredible website going to to run -- to tehran. so there would not be millions of refugees and hundreds of thousands of dead. rducate the public about how ou foreign policy in syria has created the refugee situation. for theank you suggestion. president obama did talk about the refugee situation in a joint news conference yesterday at the white house with french president hollande. here is the headline in " washington times." downed urussian jet ups syria tension. they write, "the downing of a russian fighter jet raise the tensions around serious civil war to new heights tuesday putting more pressure on the obama administration to take a more aggressive leadership role to head off further escalation between moscow and ankara. sherry in baltimore, democrats line. good morning. go ahead. caller: my concern is about police brutality. my brother, his name is anthony michael collins. scranton,dered in pennsylvania, september, 2014. he was murdered by a white man. he was murdered over the n-word because he was just standing up for his rights, telling my brother -- called him the nword. he went upstairs -- and came down, shot out the window first. then came down and said, you are not dead yet. the last shot was in his heart. and my concern is the police came. the police stood there and watched while the man, the murderer, shot twice before he was able to commit suicide. host: was this in baltimore? caller: no, this was in scranton, pennsylvania. and i'm still trying to get justice for my brother being murdered. it seems like no one cares. and i called the police, the scranton police department. our family has still not got an incident report. "the washington post" reporting on the legal procedures following the death of freddie gray and baltimore. the headline, judge in gray case will shield juror ids. the latest ruling from a judge working to ensure a fair jury despite, quote, extensive illicit he -- public city surrounding the case. this is the trial of officer william g porter, the first of six officers to go to trial. he has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-rate -- -- second-degree assault, and reckless lists endangerment. next up is lisa, the republican line. caller: yes. this all stems from politics. i would like to challenge every candidate for president to go in the black neighborhoods and have a talk. we are all americans. i will tell you right now, hillary clinton will never do anything for the black people. they put planned parenthood in there to try and kill people. they put them in trashy neighborhoods. it floods down here in louisiana. i cannot stand what they do to these black people. cvs and baltimore. put a walmart there where they can shop. i challenge hillary clinton to go to the south side of chicago and give a talk. let's see what she has to say. and democrats, educate yourselves because all the democrats do is demagogue. go watch the election and see who you think is best. host: here is carl in illinois. independent's line. carl, hello. you are on the air. caller: hello. yes, i would like to say one of the main problems we have is needthe ethics committees to be reestablished in this country. the policewe have department are not giving opportunity to screen potential police candidates. many of these incidents are caused by officers that have iran previous infractions within their departments. we also have the diminishing of the judicial system when it comes to dealing with officers that have created these crimes against the people. one of the things i have noticed about the program is that many of the people that are commenting are addressing black americans as black people, not as americans who are being victimized in these situations. the separations that have occurred are due to both economical and racial lines. we need to bring back groups that were in many of the cities dealed with social injustices within each community. many of these groups were victimized, criminalized, driven out of their communities. we also need to bring back some of the great black leaders that go to other states, other places, get educated, and then the never come back to our town. the never come back to contribute and build the communities up. host: appreciate your comments. you can call in for chicago residents, (202) 748-0003 fo. about 10 more minutes of your phone calls. the political fallout from the comment yesterday of the mayor of the prosecution. release of the police video, the shooting of mr. mcdonald last october of 2014. the headline in "politico," saying facing perhaps his biggest test yet. mayor rob emanuel on tuesday scrambled to head off a crisis in the possibility of violent protests following the release of a graphic video showing quan mcdonalda being shot 16 times by a chicago police officer. hattiesburg, mississippi. next up is denny. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just want to say this. this country was formed -- [indiscernible] the top 1% controls over two thirds of america's wealth. to continue to control that these police officers, they have been trained. when it comes to blacks, they want to keep us in. . they do so with guns. when they confront caucasian americans, they never -- no -- no police brutality is involved. but when it comes to black americans, it is a different story. training uses the gun. sticks and tasers, there is no comparison. blacks, thecomes to weapon of choice is the gun. thanks for taking my call. host: a couple of comments on twitter. this one from texas congressman walking castro. when it comes to interactions between citizens and police, technology is catching up to the truth. the rest depends on us. and bobby says, it took one year and court order to release video shows how police and prosecutors do all they can to cover their criminals. and, which direction he is facing is irrelevant if he has a neck and he is 10 feet away. talking about the victim, laquan mcdonald, and his actions in that video. the chicago line, bruce. what are your thoughts echo caller: -- thoughts? caller: it is a terrible happening here in chicago, but if people would just listen to the police when they say stop. don't keep walking, don't confront them, don't stare them down. and i am in no way defending what happened here in chicago. i am always the kind of the person who goes to simple solutions. if people would take their complaints to the court system and areey are arrested supposedly or allegedly treated bad, then so be it. but when you confront the police, they are on edge and you just cannot do that to somebody. host: here is alabama, john on our independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say what has been going on in the united states, and ever since the rodney king meeting and everything else, is black people are being terrorized by police. just like isis is terrorizing what they did over there in france. black people are being terrorized and murdered and beaten and killed by white police officers in this country. da should have seen that film. he should have indicted the police officer when he saw that, brought him up to trial. but he didn't stand up. and one other thing i like to say to all the viewers that are watching talking about how horrifying this video is, look inthe video of natasha fairfax, virginia. she was brought out of her jail cell naked and handcuffed. host: what was her last name? caller: this is all terrorism by the police force on black people in this country. host: john -- caller: she asked the police not to fill me. host: john, who is this? caller: natasha mckinney. host: a couple more calls here. let's hear from stewart in palm harbor, florida. caller: yes, sir. first of all, let me just say that i'm african-american and i'm retired military and i'm a wounded warrior. i find it absolutely appalling that this continues to happen. and when it happens, it is perpetuated by people like sean hannity, who was on last night saying president obama -- he does it every single time. the sky is the most dangerous person on president -- on television, as well as fox news. payment bill o'reilly, about 35% of their reporting is on race. and it is never, ever, ever a good thing to say about lack people, and they bring out -- about black people, and they bring up things like black on black crime. i understand black on black crime is a huge problem, but what does that story have to do with a person walking down the street and being bludgeoned? bludgeoned. and only by the grace of god there was a video that showed -- it doesn't matter if the guy was a thug and he stole something out of a store, does that equate to the type of violence the police have perpetuated on an individual? a test happened -- it has happened time and time again. i believe in my heart and soul, even as a christian, that that officer in missouri shot beckett for no reason, just like i believe this miscreant -- in missouri shot that kid for no reason, just like i believe this miscreant shot trayvon on martin and got away with it. tweet abouttter, a a release of the video yesterday. calls here couple of from chicago. patrick, welcome. caller: yes, good morning. i believe the biggest thing that is going on right now is the fact that the police officers, whenever they do something wrong, -- [indiscernible] , that iss a black man basically all they did. when they look at us, we are all criminals. officer was at a traffic light, i pulled up next to the officer. i waited for the light to turn green. as soon as i went through the light, he turned his lights on. he came to my door saying nothing because he was a rookie. he said, i smell weed, which i do not smoke. me and he lied. i think that is what is being perpetrated. the fact that even myself, a college grad, a vet, and i would trust the cops, but when they do things like this, it breeds a lot of mistrust. they want people to trust them, but when they act in this manner, you really can't trust them. and the other thing that i really find upsetting about this whole thing is the gentleman -- if you see someone, at least stop and check. he was making sure that this kid died. he shot 15 more times after that one initial shot. host: let's get one more view from chicago, this is deborah. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i live on the southside of chicago, and i have lived on the west side. i work in transportation. what i have seen with chicago, the only problem that we have, the black vote is suppressed. county,people, in cook are not allowed to elect our officials. our votes are never counted. we don't have power. i vote. that is our main problem. counted, wecould be could put the people in that we the people of this cook county want to govern us. and chicago will be better. appreciate your input this money. thanks for all your calls. next, with the holiday season about to get underway, we will have a roundtable discussion about the fight to raise the minimum wage could later on, dean scott will join us for a preview of climate change talks in paris that begin on monday. announcer: c-span has the best access to congress, with live coverage of the house on c-span and the senate on c-span2. watch our conversations with six freshmen members of congress. congressman benny carter and the only pharmacist serving in congress. at 10:30, representative donald norcross. friday at 10:00 a.m. eastern, representative mark desaulnier, a california democrat. at 10:30, congressman mark walker from north carolina, a baptist minister. and saturday morning at 10:00 eastern, it is congresswoman maybe walker's, former state senator who interned in d.c. as a college student. and congressman seth moulton, a massachusetts democrat and a marine who served four tours in iraq. your best access to congress is on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org. >> ♪ announcer: c-span presents "landmark cases, a book which explores 12 historic supreme court decisions, including brown versus the board of education, miranda versus arizona, and rovers is way. 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"washington journal" continues. host: coming up next, we are going to talk about efforts to raise the minimum wage across the country. in particular, this fight called fight for $15. discussionroundtable across the country. we i joined here at our "washington journal" table by james sherk with the heritage foundation. and joining us from kansas city is kendall fells, the organizing director in the organization called fight for $15. kendall fells, let's start with you and ask you about this effort, fight for $15. what is behind it? guest: i think first we have to take a step back to about 36 months ago, about 200 fast food workers in new york city when on strike. they had to demand, $15 an hour and the right to form a union. fast foode when workers went on strike, people thought they were crazy. here we are, 36 months later, and you see victories all across the country. $15 in l.a. state,tewide in new york where about 150,000 to 200,000 fast food workers receive $15 san francisco, seattle, companies like facebook, i can go on and on. the point i making is these fight for $15 workers have created a movement in this country that is changing politics as we know it. i think working people now say when they come together, their voices can be heard. you see in the victories that politicians and companies are listening. and now these workers have their eyes set on the 2015 elections. minimum wageeral is $7.25 an hour. that is over doubling, correct? why such a big increase? guest: when you look at fast food workers specifically, over 52 percent of them are on public assistance. used to feed, house," these workers because companies like mcdonald's -- workersnd clothe these because companies like enoughd's don't pay them to get food, clothing, and shelter, and just able to survive. sherklet me ask james from the heritage foundation. what happens? what is the economic impact we have seen or is there any evidence so far of what happens when the minimum wage gets raised specifically by that amount? guest: there is no doubt that people are struggling. this has been a very weak economy. but what we need are policies that are going to hell. the congressional budget office estimated that if we went to $10.10 an hour, that would cost half a million jobs. we really don't have a lot of evidence on what will happen if we go to $15 an hour, because neither us nor any other industrialized nation have tried to raise the minimum wage that high. has a cost-of-living and per capita income about a third of that of the u.s. when they went up to the federal minimum wage, this was something in the neighborhood of $15, $20 an hour here. one of every 11 jobs on the island disappeared. fortunately for them, they have the ability to immigrate to the mainland. jobs disappeared. we don't have a lot of evidence, but the evidence we do have is pretty concerning. host: when was the last time the federal minimum wage was raised last time? guest: in 2009. since then, you have about 25 or so states that have minimal wages above the federal minimum wage could host: we want to invite our viewers to join the conversation. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents2 for and others. theif you are earning minimum wage, and understand that could be different in the city where you are, a special line for you, (202) 748-0003 f.r we will get to your calls momentarily. kendall fells, about that minimum wage, it is different from state to state or cities to city. -- city to city. is it your intention to move this $15 our effort -- $15 an hour effort nationwide? $15 an hour for all job categories? guest: here's the thing, fast food workers are really spearheading the fight for $15. but when you look at everyone that is coming out to the rallies, people have been motivated by these fast food workers. you see childcare workers, convenience store workers, etc. food workersst really want, they want mcdonald's to come to the table and negotiate. what you have seen as politicians that have gotten caught up in the momentum and they are responding to the demand. at the end of the day, low-wage workers, it is about 64 million of them in this country. and they want $15 an hour. workers need enough money to be able to survive in today's economy. host: tim sherk, getting back to your comment, the report on whether they raised it to $10.10 an hour, would there be an economic impact if they raised it to $7.75 an hour? eight dollars an hour? isst: the fact of the matter there are not all that many workers making the federal minimum wage right now. they put out a report every year, and i would invite the listeners to google that report. what you can see in that report is there is about one million workers making at the federal minimum wage. and 2 million workers making below the federal minimum wage, and that is tipped workers at restaurants. host: let's see what our viewers' experience is. florida, this is mike on our republican line. caller: good morning to you. i would like to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. i would like to direct my comments to mr. fells. mr. fells, i don't want you earning $15 an hour. 25 dollars,arning $50, or hundred dollars, $200 an hour. and the concept structure of employment and working in america is centered around -- you have to advance your skill level. unfortunately, pretty much every single job at a fast food establishment outside of very little,quires if any, skills. meaning you could take a human being and bring them in and in two hours they could master the skills. i'm not saying it is not demanding work and i'm not saying it doesn't have value, but the value that it presents -- it doesn't equal $15. and if i can, c-span, i need to talk a little bit more about the financial -- this all comes down to the value of our dollar. and various socialist laws that are being passed, does mr. fells understand how obamacare has directly affected fast food workers and the hours? host: a couple good points there. guest: i think the facts speak for themselves. when $7 billion a year in tax dollars are being spent to subsidize workers who work for companies like mcdonald's, who makes $5 billion a year, the fast food industry is a $200 billion a year industry and has the largest this party between the front-line workers and the ceo -- more than a thousand times as with the ceo makes more than the front-line worker -- i think the people realize the only way we are going to get the economy back on track is to get in the pockets of low-wage workers. taxpayers are forced to pick up the bill well companies make off with stacks of money. and now you see that dynamic changing, and you see -- you know -- since this campaign study, over 12 million workers have received a raise. there are children and families who are going to have better holidays because of this campaign and what workers have done. think we arehat i at. host: your response. guest: i think the gentleman has point on the minimum wage being more of a learning weights. the fact of the matter is a majority of the american workers started out making within a dollar of the minimum wage. a report they did a few years back. more than half the people watching us today started out at minimum wage. very few of those people are still on minimum wage. two thirds of minimum wage workers get a raise within a year. it typical race about 25%. you start out with your skills. skills, this like showing up regularly for work every day. host: on this learning wage bill, do either of you know what the average age of a fast food worker would be? guest: again, if you look at the bureau of labor statistics report, what you can see is 56% of those were making the federal of between the age of 16 and 24 years of age -- of betweenimum wage the edge of 16 and 24 years of age. when: there was a day teenagers are trying to get bags. now they are adults trying to pay mortgage and keep food in their refrigerator. host: from massachusetts, ray on the independents line. caller: hi, how are you jekyll i wanted to say -- you? i wanted to say my girlfriend worked at walmart for 16 years. she got ms and they used to have seminars to tell those people how to get on food stamps, how to get health insurance. they used to have seminars. there years of working way to is diagnosed with ms, they took her discount card away from her. you know? i mean, sure, the republicans got the midterm election, but let me tell you something. come the new elections, everybody is going to come out. you only had 26% of the people vote in the midterm. wait until this next election. you will see a big change. thank you very much. host: here is texas, independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i was just -- i just don't understand why it is a big problem if the democrats says something -- say something -- [indiscernible] -- i sang that the minimum wage ought to be $15. but when a democrat was saying it, it is wrong. but now with the republicans now even calling in on the show saying it is hard for somebody to live on $15 an hour. is a thing try to keep upper in order where the is try to keep everybody in check if you do this or that. i'm just going to leave it right there because i can't get it all straightened out. but they try to paint a picture of where you should be, but everybody needs to make good money to survive. to oreople are working three jobs and still can't pay their bills. was talking about politicians, their comments on the campaign trail about the minimum wage. we have heard in particular from hillary clinton. here is what she is calling for in her efforts to boost the minimum wage. mrs. clinton: the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. but if you went to $15, there are no international comparisons. that is why i support a $12 national federal minimum wage. that is what the democrats in the senate have put forward as a proposal. but i do believe that is a minimum. and places likes yet a, los angeles, new york city -- like seattle, los angeles, new york city, they can go higher. is the hardest way to move for because if you go to tall dollars, it would be the highest historical average. host: do you think this is an issue best left to individual cities and states? guest: i think absolutely this is an issue that should be addressed local -- as local as possible. means very different things in new york city than west virginia. $12 an hour in san francisco and $12 an hour in memphis, tennessee are very different things. trying to impose a uniform federal minimum wage simply cannot account for those local cost-of-living differences. you could have an economy that is never session where jobs are very hard to come by. wage doesn't take that into account. host: the organizing director of fight for $15, tell us about your local campaigns, or local successes and some of the failures. guest: when you look across the country, i think the evidence is overwhelming. you look at a place like new york state, governor cuomo, who is really far from a part of the economic, kind of the liberal economic speaking -- thinking, so to speak, next thing you 150,002n hundre -- 200,000 workers -- what hundred 50,000 to 200,000 workers are at $15. if you look at l.a., same thing. through the city council, $15. seattle, the same thing. alabama, $10.10. $11 in st. louis. facebook raised their wages to $15. so on and so forth. the democratic party has picked up $15 as the platform for 2016. i think what you see is politicians specifically relies that in november, there is going to be a referendum on wages. and these workers need $15, and they need it now. the voting bloc is about 64 million workers across this country who make less than $15 an hour. in north carolina, 2 million or more workers make less than $15. florida, 4 million or so workers make less than $15. just moving a fraction of those workers to the polls couldn't swing elections all across the country. i think this movement has been extremely successful. 36 months ago, they said these workers were crazy. now the democratic party has picked up the platform. nicely companies raising their pay to $15 voluntarily. and you see rob emanuel in chicago going to $15. togetherers all come around simple demands, change can be created. host: our conversation this morning about raising the minimum wage with james sherk and kendall fells, we welcome your calls. (202) 748-0003 for those of you making minimum wage. guest: what is interesting, if you look at the polls, 75% of americans oppose raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. including a lot of those who are below $15 an hour. the reason for that is because people realize it would be very destructive and lose a lot of jobs. the company is not going to hire a worker unless the revenue and the additional productivities that they are bringing in for the company is more than their weight. you have a worker that only produces $12 or $13 an hour in value for the company, they are not going to get hired at $15 an hour. host: the democrats line. caller: good morning, gentlemen. host: good morning. caller: i just want to say as a person that owns businesses, a minimum wage -- at times, i get ,eople that were so worthless and of course i give them the but many went on to do much better. the thing is this $15 for everyone? no. they have to learn. it takes time. you keep on working and working and working, and to learn. guess what? you can find a better job or your boss will give you better wages. host: let's hear one more call and get a follow-up from our guests. ian, new york, republican line. caller: i run companies, too, and capitalism dictates wages. nathan's says, well, $10. he will have more. just like the gentleman said. manhattan does great. can give a higher wage. i would like to see some union higher-ups buy a franchise and try to charge whatever they can cause to get there 30 bucks or 15 bucks an hour wage and see if it works out because you have to be able to adjust your weight. maybe your company does good enough to give your employees 15, but then they are in hard times and says, listen, i'm going to go under, can we go to 12 bucks? you can have the government come in and set wages. now people are walking to the door. how is that fair to him? a manager working 10 years to make 30 in our. host: kendall fells, your thoughts. what are you hearing? guest: you know, i just think that taxpayers and voters have already spoken. no one wants to live in a he works atre -- mcdonald's and a burger king for 60 to 70 hours a week, yet he is still on state assistance, he is still homeless, he still struggles to feed his children could i think that we are -- children. i think we are at a place in this country people do not want to live in a country where you can work 60 or 70 hours a week and still live in poverty. i think taxpayers are tired of paying $7 billion a year, $1 billion a year just for employees to work at mcdonald's, just so the fast food industry can make off with billions of dollars in their pockets. this debate has already ended because the facts speak for themselves and wages are being raised all across the country. by three being raised dollars, four dollars, five dollars, six dollars depending on the city and state you are talking about. the workers have already won. host: what are you hearing? guest: i think he has an excellent point. it is, in fact, very expensive to get by. but his solution is the wrong way of going about it. there was a study that came out last year from some economists who look that workers making the minimum wage in 2008, 2009 when the last increase went through. following the earnings a few years after, their monthly earnings had dropped by $150 a month. weren'ty because they building as much experience and went getting as much of a raise. the proponents of a higher minimum wage wanted to help these workers get ahead, and their monthly earnings fell by $150 a month. a much better approach would be to focus on the cost of living. there are a number of different regulations at the federal, state, and local level that make it more expensive to rent a house, more expensive to buy a car, more expensive to buy groceries. americaage family in would save about $4400 year if we got rid of these regulations. i think that is a much better approach of doing it. i agree, the cost of living is too high. but the solution to that is to not put them out of a job. the solution is to get rid of these cost drivers. host: next up on "washington journal," john maryland. the mckay's line. -- democrats line. caller: the last bigger had some good points. i think you might be understating it when he says the minimum wage is zero had certainly no one -- -- zero. certainly no one is going to work for a zero. no company would do business for no money. i guess except for nonprofits. what i heard in reference to people earlier about how many people were at the minimum wage, how many people were under the minimum wage, i wanted to know if that included the over one million workers that are currently in prison making $.15 to $.30 an hour? are you including those workers? guest: to answer the gentleman, though statistics were not include people in prison. and there are valid concerns about taking advantage of prison labor. i think that is a valid concern. when i said through dollars an hour, it was a reference to unemployment. somebody doesn't have to hire you. in $10 an bringing hour in revenue and somebody has to pay you $50 an hour, you are not going to get hired. host: you can tweet us at @cspanwj. senioreads, as a retired living on a fixed income, i can hardly afford to go out for dinner now. a raise in prices will hurt me now. and, we need a new category for wage earners? that all business owners can survive paying $15 per hour. kendall fells, what do you think? guest: i think that the fight for $15, what you see is a call for large corporations, like mcdonald's, like burger king, to step up to the plate. and that it is past time for these companies to give back to the employees what these employees have given to them. worker productivity is on the rise. there was a poll done in new york state after the wage board was done, and about 70% of folks in new york state said they would support -- that they do support a raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. and they wouldn't mind paying a little bit more money for a big mac or some fries to make sure that the workers that work in the stores were making a living wage or they can keep a roof over their head, foot in their mouth, and close on their back. backs.hes on their once again, you see overwhelming support not only for the $15 minimum wage, but also for even having to pay a little bit more money in order to make sure workers can get off state assistance. host: tim sherk. guest: it is one thing if you're talking about a little increase in prices, but that is not what would happen. year put out a report last , put in my name and fast food prices in google and it should pop up. it typical fast food restaurant would have to raise their prices 40%. who is paying that bill? it is not the so-called 1%. you are primarily talking about lower income and middle income families. it is an enormous price increase. that was analyzing who bears the price increases when the minimum wage goes up, that is how the businesses adjust, their costs go up, they have to charge more. and it hits lower income families and middle income families have your than it hits higher income families -- have your than it hits. -- heavier than it hits higher income families. on net, it is a transfer away from lower income families towards middle and upper income families. raising prices is not a way to boost prosperity across the economy. host: this is a carver township in new jersey, frank, good morning. caller: good morning. this all started back in 1938 when the wage labor act was passed. between 1938 and 1950, it had risen 300%. , we were at $1.40 an hour as a minimum wage. at that point in time, a kid working in a fast food establishment making $1.40 an hour could afford to take himself and a girlfriend to the movie, have dinner. two of his friends and him could get an apartment, a decent apartment. i lived up in the new york city metropolitan area at this time. and now you look around and these kids, they can't afford to buy insurance for their cars because cars are so expensive. a decent used car now, 7000, $8,000. when i was a kid, $150. if you do the math and you look at the way the wages have grown over the years, they are not keeping up with inflation at all. host: frank makes a good point. cnnmoney did that exact same thing and looked at that cap between the inflation-adjusted wage. he was talking about the mid-1960's. there is that real spike there. for our radio listeners, i apologize. but at the peak, the adjusted minimum wage was $10 an hour in the early 1970's. right now, it is about seven dollars an hour. there is really no adjustment for inflation and. guest: this is one of those cases where the devil is in the details. and the detail is: how do you adjust for inflation? they use an inflation measure called the personal consumption expenditures price index. there is another measure of inflation that is more widely known called the consumer price adjustwhich is what we tax brackets and social security payments with. congress doesn't want those changed because if you changed back it would mean lower social security payments and higher taxes. but if you are looking at the economic experts, they say the pce is the more accurate measure. if you use that, outing courage and went to google the report and look on the front cover, they have the inflation-adjusted. the all-time high came in 1968. if we are talking about $15 now, we are talking about almost doubling the historical all-time high. that doesn't sound like a good idea to me in a down economy. host: tell us about your typical fast food workers' economic experience in terms of dealing with fixed -- inflation. guest: if you want to talk to a lot of our fast food workers, what you'll find is a lot of them are couch surfing. they stay on different relatives' and friends' couches. a lot of them stay at homeless shelters. sometimes it is five or six of them that stay in apartment. most of them don't perceive raises. -- don't receive raises. we have fast food workers that have worked for 10 years and still make $7.25. store forked at the five years and i make $7.25. some are not just came in the door and they make $7.25. the whole time, these companies are making more and more money. now it you see happening is you see these low-wage crews -- not just fast food workers -- all these workers coming together, and not only are they raising wages through mobilizing and being in the streets and protesting and going on strike, now they relies their voting power and relies almost half the country is in a position where they are making less than $15 an hour, which means they are struggling. so i think people's experience with inflation is everything is going up except their wages. host: let's go to atlanta and hear from archie on our democrats line. caller: yes. yes. i just wanted to say that to these corporations are making a lot of money on people. but nobody has said anything effects ofocial these low wages. a parent that has two or three kids cannot really survive on what they are being paid today. and it is hard for them. as a result of that, our kids are being left out there in the streets doing all kinds of things because their parents are not home with them helping to raise them. thank you. host: to our republican line, james in albany, california. caller: yes, hello. thanks for taking my call. i have been listening to the minimum wage that have been discussing for about half an hour now, and i think that it should go up. how can people survive? how can they have a house? how can they pay a mortgage? how can they have a new car? how can they go to school, have an education? this is my first time calling you, and i really think we should give them a break. i could have what i wanted. before that, i hardly had anything. i have seen people sleep in bags in the street. and i was almost joining them. and now, you wouldn't believe it, but i have three kids. and i have a disability with a back injury. now i'm worried about income and where money will come in. i got ahead and i'm worried yet. but my daughter told me when she got hurt at her job recently is that she doesn't understand why the illegal immigrants, or people don't have id, get free medications. host: james sherk here in washington with the heritage foundation, historically, how much has the minimum wage been part of the economic discussion? why are we saying now, for example, this push to boost the minimum wage a fairly substantial amount checkup guest: historically -- amount? guest: historically, the minimum wage does not affect most people in the country. there are, in fact, people who do get stuck there. but the vast majority of people start out at minimum wage and move their way up. the reason we are seeing such a push on this is the number of major unions, such as the service employees international union, has spent a lot of money to make this a major issue. they have been organizing this protests. you know the numbers of actual work is involved? you are looking at a few hundred workers across the country involved in these protests. that is not very much. i tip my hat to them and say it is a very successful pr issue, but a lot of money is being spent. fells, thell washington examiner writing , quotes theending president of the international franchise association, saying the spending that went towards the $15 minimum wage would, quote, only hurt workers the union says it was to represent. what is your reaction? guest: nobody knows what to these workers need better than these workers. you know, these workers that are going on strike back in 2012. these workers have put their lives on the line, they have put their jobs on the line. they have been arrested. they have gone to chicago. you know, there have been thousands and thousands of workers that have shown up at events. it is a little bit left both to thereomebody say that has been a convention where hundreds of workers have gone on strike. low-wage workers have made it the top issue in the country. if you go back to 2012, the conversations were around austerity, budget cuts. now the conversations are about low-wage workers and about companies who make too much money. and that it is time for workers to be able to get a livable wage where they can support their families. if you work 40 hours a week, you should be able to afford a roof over your head, food in your mouth," on your back -- mouth, and clothes on your back. the reason we are having this debate is because workers have been so courageous. a lot of the points that are being made here are now mute because when you look at places like birmingham, places like kansas city, places like seattle, chicago, even in the heartland, raises are being raised three dollars, four dollars, five dollars, six dollars. host: and -- guest: -- fight for it. averageu told us the fast food workers age -- how long does a fast food worker work at a fast food establishment? guest: i would say the average worker flows round a low-wage job. workerl have a fast food who has been a fast food worker for three years, but they also worked as a home care worker, kind of floating around to all these low-wage jobs. host: let me get a response from james sherk. guest: one of the things i find fairly interesting in the rhetoric from a lot of unions, like you just said they're talking about how you demand at least $15 an hour, when you look at the actual ordinances that is a cargo forre unionized businesses. chicago says it has to -- you have to now get at least $15 an hour. you saw the same thing with seattle-tacoma, $15 an hour. what a lot of unions have done -- they can go to the employers and say you know how to pay $13 $15 an hour unless you are unionized. would you like to be unionized and then you can hire workers for less? if you believe this is about dignity, why would -- there would be two major hotels that are tied to unite here for decades. shortly after that $15 went through, both the hotels' management decided they didn't want to be unionized. in those contracts have never been made public. the press has not asked for them to but there was a very strong suspicion the reason the hotels decided to be unionized does they said they don't have to pay it if you bring us in. i think that is reprehensible. host: we have a special line set aside for minimum-wage workers. (202) 748-0003 fo. maryland making the minimum wage. how much is that in maryland, harriet? itler: i believe right now is $7.45. host: tell us about your experience. caller: i'm going to tell you my concern. because there is going to be more competition in jobs. i am also an older worker. and there is credits given. i am not sure what, but when you fill out your application, they give credits. the government gives credits if you have ever been on welfare and for certain things they give the employer credits. they lower the wage for those people. and we are already and competition. we are getting older. we can't here as well, we can't well, well, -- hear as can see as well, and we can't compete as well. we can't live on social security. we didn't even get a raise this year. host: let's get a quick reaction to her experience from kendall fells. guest: i agree. you know, we have some politicians down in florida that took what the workers called the minimum wage challenge, which was essentially politicians trying to live off the weekly salary of a low-wage worker. and i think that what we saw was that politicians began to sympathize and empathize with where workers were coming from when they had to go to the grocery store and make decisions based off of what food was the least expensive versus ford that may be the best for you are the healthiest food or the best tasting food -- versus food that may be the best for you or the healthiest food or the best tasting food. who in this country can survive on $7.25 an hour? workers need $15 just to be able to get by and get off state assistance. and i don't think that taxpayers want to continue to keep paying and footing this bill. i think that is why this movement has been so successful. twitter, minimum-wage workers are invariably on food assistance, meaning corporate profits are subsidized by the taxpayer. guest: this is something where the economists on kendall's side of the aisle disagree with this analysis. existence ofe the these food stamps programs and the like and the various government welfare programs for state employers to pay slightly higher wages. there are two possible models of wage setting in the world. you could imagine that walmart want their's employees to have a basic standard of living, so the government kicks in. or that they are setting wages and are basically amoral. they are setting wages based on supply and demand. basically everyone agrees with the latter. what do these government benefit programs due to the supply and demand? they don't have much of a supply -- effect on the demand. to workight be willing part-time in stead of full time because they've got the benefits. and if you don't have income have benefits coming in, there is not quite as much pressure. everyone agrees that these government programs reduce the labor supply. play -- a slightly higher wages. this is one of the academic -- ges even liberal economists agree that it is a talking point that is not correct. host: james sherk has been researching economic policy since 2006. kendall fells with the push for fight for $15, the conversation is morning about minimum wage. about 15 more minutes of your phone calls and comments. for democrats. (202)748-8001 four republicans. (202)748-8002 for independents. wageine for a minimum earners is (202)748-8003. . caller: i'm coming to this conversation as a middle-class property owner. it can't be left to the states. several states received between $.65 and $.75 back to the states for every federal tax dollar that is paid. the property owners who are middle-class, who have long been suffering from triple poverty, have to pay more for our roads, uninsured,eltered, school lunches. states like mississippi, texas, florida are getting way more $1 of federalery income tax they pay. their states are reducing their taxes, reducing their minimum have, and the corporations moved to the red states because the corporations get the subsidies from the taxpayers. , notaxpayers are federal state-by-state. blue states have long been subsidizing the dates -- subsidizing red states. corporations are moving to red states. the reason why is because there is no parity in the federal income minimum wage. it cannot be a state-by-state decision. because the federal tax dollars are doled out on a 50-state basis. host: james sherk, you were saying that you believe the minimum wage should be left to the localities. what do you believe about what she had to say? guest: she is simply wrong on the economics. companies pay slightly higher wages than they would otherwise. i have seen people like jason use that as argument for why we don't want to do things like a living wage, and instead just use these programs. she is simply incorrect on the economics. if she wants to discuss cutting down federal spending, i am certainly in favor of a smaller federal government with less of a fiscal footprint. her on that. with in terms of the economics, she simply incorrect. host: let's hear from pensacola, florida. on the independent line, go ahead. caller: i have changed a little bit of my idea. i think the major point we are looking at is that people are talking about the symptoms. kendall made some emotional points about people having tough times, and that is true. my idea, looking at how honest someone is in talking about their position is whether or not they can debate the other side. i would be interested to see both sides put their views. wouldd like to see -- i be interested to see both sides flip their views. i'm on the heritage site. the heritage side. of thell part fundamental transformation of america. when people are poor and they like have medical care, this lady says, she's using the bad example of the federal government taking more money from new jersey and new york, and what have you. now we are looking for our hand in the cookie jar, who is going to give us the most money? it is the united states of america, not the federal states of america. there is no discussion about how the actions of these minimum wage people -- most of them are out smoking during their breaks. how much does a pack of cigarettes cost? of them are high school dropouts? how many of them have kids and then live off of convenience foods? we look at their choice of careers. people make choices when they are younger, now they have to live with them. , i think you're living in some sort of fantasy world, where -- why don't you give those people extra money yourself? host: there is a lot there on the plate of kendall fells. he will give you a chance -- we will give you a chance to respond. guest: i don't think politicians, governors, city council members, the owners of these large, private companies are raising wages because it is bad for the economy and bad for their bottom line. obviously, they are raising wages because it is good for their bottom line because they know that more money that is put into the pockets of low-wage warner -- workers is money that is going to be spent, and not going to get the economy back on track. i think the facts speak for themselves. if this wasn't the right thing to do and it didn't make sense and it didn't connect, then this movement wouldn't have started out with 200 fast food workers in new york city in 2012 and just on november 10, we had the largest strike we have had so u.s.,70 cities across the with workers for almost every low-wage industry. this movement has connected with low-wage workers. these low-wage workers are huge voting bloc. they have the ability to swing elections all across the country. they have already shifted the ground in this country back to the ground that politicians operate from. the grant has been shifted to the left. wages are already being raised. companies are stepping up, coming to the table voluntarily, raising wages. i don't think any of this is happening -- these people are not dumb. i don't think any of this is happening because it's going to have a negative effect on their company or on the economy, or people wouldn't choose to do it. a governor like governor cuomo wouldn't come out on something that doesn't make sense. the people and the voters have spoken, and politicians are following behind them. consumers have spoken and companies are following behind them. we see the trend in this country toward higher wages, and it is simply a new wage floor that is much higher. it was shipped wages in the country upwards -- it will shi wages -- shift wages in the country upwards. host: here is a tweet that says $15 was never meant to be a living wage -- a tweet that says minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage. learn a skill that will earn a wage. how are you? caller: good morning. i'm a veteran. i could say a lot about minimum wage. i learned a lot about politics. how people operate in politics. number one, i think if you look at minimum wage in the 1960's, you were making the same thing you are making now. you have people that drive 25 miles round-trip to go to work, seven dollars an hour, get paid every two weeks, what are they going to live off of? that's why the united states has so many people on welfare, because these companies are making money. they don't want to pay you their money. they prefer to send money overseas to pay for something we are not winning than to take time to congratulate the workers that they have. host: can you tell us what kind of work you do, and how long have you been earning the minimum wage? you say you are 68 now? caller: 58. i do security. host: and how long have you been doing that? caller: i've been doing that right about eight years. host: have you not gotten a raise above minimum wage in those eight years? above minimum wage, and they cut our hours down to 32 hours when obamacare came into play. host: let's hear from our guests , reaction to what he is experiencing. highlight one of the problems with the affordable care act, causing companies to cut the worker's hours. that a lot ofubt people are in a difficult situation. we want measures to be effective. last time we raised minimum wage , the former minimum-wage becausegot -- went down the wages hurt them. taking on some of these regulations that are driving housing prices -- if they were not trying to hold down housing supply, the average renter would pay 10% less for their housing. the auto dealer monopolies have gone through. 15%ed car would drop about in price. -- federal milk marketing it adds $.50 to a gallon of milk for everyone in the country. the ethanol mandate raises the costs, taking 40% of the total u.s. corn crop and turning it into a harmful fuel additive. if we got rid of that and we were using that for food instead, the average american's food bill would drop $250 annually. if we address the problems that of living, the cost it would be beneficial for all americans, whether they are on ,isability, low-wage earners rather than cause people to lose their jobs and be in even worse position. host: what is your experience in kansas city? experiences the same we have, where the majorities of workers involved in this movement are trying to figure out how to get to work. a lot of workers are spending half their check to get back and forth to work. when we talk about addressing this issue directly, i would say the fight for $15 is directly addressing this issue. raised wages being across the country. you see politicians stepping up to the plate. you see private companies -- to the point of losing jobs, facebook raised their pay to dollars, people still have their jobs. to $15,ised their pay people still have their jobs. these companies aren't making more money. they were already making money. now these companies are deciding, because workers have been in the street, because the demand is so loud, because the voting bloc is so large, people are stepping to the table because they are listening to consumers. once again, the facts speak for themselves. i don't think the city council in a way would raise wages if it was going to have a negative effect on the economy. i don't think governor cuomo would do that statewide, not just in new york city, but throughout the state if it had a negative effect on the economy. host: here is a quick snapshot of some of the wage increases that have happened. this is bloomberg bna's hr payroll blog. the federal minimum wage unchanged in six years. more states and municipalities have created their own wage requirements. as of january 1, 2015, 29 states and the district of columbia have minimum wage is greater than the federal hourly minimum wage of $7.25, and 26 of them and the district increased the wage since january 1, 2014. let's get a couple more calls. we go to new jersey, tom, on our republican line. welcome. caller: good morning. my concern with this recommendation of mr. fells is that it is almost like another big government program. it makes me think of another great society, which has done nothing good -- i shouldn't say that. but in the big picture has not advanced the cause of the people we are trying to help. we have put a tremendous amount of dollars into that. haswhat it has done is dampened the potential of this population. you raise the minimum wage, it does the same thing, in effect. there is no striving to get out of that lifestyle. host: ok. robert from greenville, north carolina. line. on independents' caller: the gentleman from the heritage foundation made a remark that raising the minimum uld make thewo cost of product go of 30% to 40%. that's not a fact. that's a lie. it would be 3% to 5%. i would be more than happy to pay that 3% to 5% to let people have a living wage. also, corporations, large corporations are against this, not small businesses. small businesses benefit when more people have money in their pocket. this is for the walmarts, the koch brothers that pay your salary. and you should be ashamed of yourself. host: let's finish. a couple of comments there. the cost of productivity. he is disagreeing with your figures. the other caller mentioned this was another big government program. i would encourage the gentleman to look at the study we put out, specifically for the fast food industry. you're close to doubling your cost for labor. will bypass food if it becomes more expensive. they will have to raise costs even higher. in the fast food industry, we found the price increase would be 38% in the short term. they will install machines that will automate a lot of these jobs. you will see cashiers replaced with kiosks. you will see machines like the alpha, a device that has been invented by inventors in california. it's a nominated california -- it is an automated hamburger cooker. it cooks gourmet burgers. sears the outside, as condiments, freshly slices toppings. it does all of this, 360 burgers per hour, without a single human worker doing anything after set up -- set-up. those machines are pretty expensive. fast food companies will start buying machines like that. that will mean less jobs and less opportunities for the very workers kendall wants to help. hear from kendall fells, reaction to what callers had to say or what james sherk had to say. popeyes cameo of out this month -- there has been a lot of hubbub to what has been happening, the , and thatge increases the industry would adjust accordingly, the same way they do for the price of chicken wings or biscuits, etc. this is a $200 billion industry, one of the fastest-growing industries in the company -- country. they have more than enough money to go around. there is evidence to show -- no evidence to show that the increase in minimum wage for companies making billions of dollars per year will suffer job losses. as far as automation is concerned, automation is part of life. a lot of companies have automation, but workers are still making $7.25. those workers are on strike, saying we deserve $15 per hour. nobody knows what these workers need more than somebody who actually has to live these lives, somebody like guadalupe, who have received a sickly over a four dollar raise between increases -- received basically a four dollar raise between increases. she has received a 50% increase in the last two years and we have not even won the campaign yet, and i think that speaks for itself. host: kendall fells is the organizing director of the fight for $15, joining us from kansas city this morning. james sherk is the labor and economics research fellow at the heritage foundation. thanks for being with us on "washington journal" this morning. coming up next, next week, monday, climate change talks begin in earnest in paris. president obama is expected to attend. up next, we will talk with bloomberg bna senior climate change reporter dean scott. he will join us for a preview of the talks. later, jacqueline pata will be here to talk about public policy issues impacting native americans. journal" continues. miss clinton: hello, this is hillary clinton. i want to thank you for letting me speak to you about an issue that is central to our children's future and critical in our fight to restore this nation's economy -- solving our nation's health care crisis. >> there is no prescription or role model or cookbook for being first lady. the future is created every day. the future is not something that is out there waiting to happen to us. the future is something that we make. well, i have said and i believe that there is a good possibility that some time in the next 20 years we will have a woman president. >> hillary clinton experienced many first in her role as -- her role as first lady. she has endured several scandals, including his impeachment. she considers a second bid for the white house -- as she considers a second bid for the white house, her story is still being written. "firsts original series ladies -- examining the public and private lives -- "first ladies -- influence and image." sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. booksr days of nonfiction and authors on c-span2's "b ooktv." nationaloverage of the book festival from washington, d.c. friday, the second annual miami book fair. all-day coverage begins at 8:00 a.m. eastern, featuring author talks and interviews. saturday afternoon, george mason on theity, robert poole 14 acre plot at arlington national cemetery known as "section 60." and sunday night, attorney roberta kaplan who argued the case the united states versus windsor. >> we filed the case, and the government always gets a certain amount of time to respond. i got a call from the trial attorney, we need 30 days. we are thinking about what to do in the case, and we need time to decide. i thought she was stalling for time. i don't get to be a plaintiff all that much. edie had had a lot of very serious health issues during the case. i wanted to make sure when the case was over, not only was she still alive, but healthy enough to enjoy it. that was very much weighing on me. i said to the government, forget it, no extension. "booktv" all weekend every weekend on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: dean scott is bloomberg bna's senior climate change reporter. beginning on monday, he, for the 11th consecutive year, will be reporting on climate change talks, set to begin in paris. what are these climate change talks all about? guest: they were sort of about the end of the entire process of more than 20 years, an attempt by all these countries -- more ton 190 will be in paris -- get a global agreement on climate change, to curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to temperature increase and rising sea levels. and those negotiations -- i've gone to 11 straight of these. the progress is incremental at times, fits and starts. they make some progress here and there, but their goal all along has been to get this global deal that has both the u.s. and other nations oneloped the agreement, and also rapidly developing china, india, and brazil. we have almost been here before a couple times. the movie we have seen before, but they really think it's going to end differently this time. in 2000 nine, they tried for an international agreement in theyhagen -- in 2009, tried for an international agreement in copenhagen. they weren't able to get that. if they don't get one in paris, the international effort will have to rebuild somewhere else and start over. host: said 190 countries? -- you said there are 190 countries? guest: 195, including the eu, which are a bloc. when this started, the idea was we will not get into a kyoto-like protocol, with binding targets. it will be a mixture of pledges and requirements. end of those, they have -- andng like 170 or so of those, they have something like 170 or so from different countries. there seems to be a lot of buy-in. host: what is a committed -- a country pledging to do in these deals? guest: the way i look at this is , i look at this as a hybrid deal. it's not exactly like the kyoto protocol, where everybody divides up the targets and says i'm going to do 5%, if you will do 10%. it is largely driven by the u.s. in terms of how it is set up. it combines voluntary pledges the countries say they can do. for example, the u.s. says it and do up to 28% reduction by 2025 -- the u.s. says it can do by 2025. reduction that's the pledge component. the requirement part, or what would be legally binding, would be the transparency or verification requirements to make sure countries make good on the pledges they put on the table. it's a two-part. two big parts in a general sense. host: you cover climate change as a daily beach. daily beat. what's the state of climate change worldwide today? what does the science tell us about climate change worldwide? allt: the concern has been along -- what we follow at bloomberg bna, science drives-- international policy and development. what we focus on is there appears to be a link that is fairly well-established i scientists in terms of rising -- well-established by scientists in terms of rising temperatures. to the degree that i talk about the science, i talk about the goal, the international, sort of agreed-upon goal, that we should have a threshold or an ability to limit this increased to about two degrees centigrade, 3.6 degrees fahrenheit by the end of the century, going all the way back to preindustrial era. we are about as half of that increase. we have eaten into about half of that budget. that two degrees celsius number is put there because at that point scientists warn the impacts of climate change could be a lot worse and we will have rising sea level that impacts developing and allowable nations -- developing nations and vulnerable nations particularly. host: do you feel like nations have a sense of urgency about it? guest: it seems like there is a lot of agreement that something has to be done internationally. now, what that's going to be in paris -- i think they are going to get an agreement in paris. i think the chances of us getting some type of international agreement on or after december 11 are fairly high. usually, we are skeptical that they are going to make progress. i think this time, there is the hope of all the countries at the table that we get some type of signal that the world has to begin acting. it's not going to do enough, and it's not going to do enough to get at that two degrees threshold, but it will include something in the agreement they can come back to in five years and ratchet up their ambitious pledges to try to get at staying under that cap. host: dean scott is our guest, here to talk about the upcoming paris climate talks, which begin on monday. we are interested in your comments, too read -- too. (202)748-8000 is the number for democrats. (202)748-8001 for republicans. (202)748-8002 for independents and all others. twitter, @cspanwj. what is congress' role? host: a lot of what i do when i'm not at these talks is spent time on capitol hill tracking these issues. the backdrop to these negotiations, there is a republican-controlled house and senate. there is a lot of debate on capitol hill about whether obama has the authority to sign this agreement. there is an important point, there is not going to be a treaty. president obama is negotiating this under his executive authority to negotiate international agreements. so, there is definitely a move on a couple fronts -- two major ones on capitol hill. one is to undercut that argument that obama has the authority, even while -- perhaps -- he is in paris. and a no-confidence vote on obama's participation in these talks. there is a second move we've had in the last week or so to go after the epa carbon pollution rules, and those underpin what the u.s. has put on the table, the pledge it has. the issue is, do they have the votes? and so far, our reporting suggests they don't. so, they will make that effort and make a very strong effort, but they are going to have a hard time, at least under this president, rolling back what he agrees to in paris. host: let's go to brooklyn on our democrats' line. , and thankd morning you for taking my call. i appreciate it. my concern is the education about climate change for all the people of the world. it appears that this education becomes esoteric. advertised byg climate change experts to all the people of the world that, when one unit of oil is being combusted, these are the byproducts that are going into our atmosphere, into our planet? when one unit of coal, when one unit of gas -- a way that the masses, the whole world would clearly understand -- is happening without hydrocarbons are fossil fuels. not just being educated in college, where only a few people -- the masses don't really understand the impact of hydrocarbons for our planet in a real, generic, advertised way for our public. thank you again for taking my call. it is a great question. it kind of goes to what the public perceives to be this challenge of climate change rate. in the u.s., the idea is -- i should start out by pointing us to this disagreement that you spoke to in congress. that flows from a disagreement also within the american public and the voters over climate change. this is a very salient issue for voters and this debate in congress. whether climate change is severeng, but also how is this problem and what are the resources we should be putting forth to address it? of scientistst working within schools and promote what exactly is the nature of climate science, how solid is it, can we rely on it. now we are seeing sort of the second stage of that, in the sense that we are talking more and more in our educational systems about whether the costs of doing something about climate change -- while those can be enormous, those may be offset by the benefits. because what we need to talk about and what the defense department talks about, the obama administration, independent scientists talk about the threat to rising sea levels, our infrastructure, drought worsened by climate change, the actual expenses of those things can offset the cost. this is a message that probably needs to be introduced into schools, that there are costs. to have students grapple with whether those two things are -- or at least the costs can be offset by the benefits of the actual climate change. host: fort lauderdale, frank, on the independents' line. caller: good morning, mr. scott. i'd like to ask you a question -- they had the last summit in copenhagen. i think al gore was going to go there. he didn't. i have some doubts about al gore. i found out from his history that he was affiliated with men named armand hammer -- armon hammer, who was invested in the asbestos trade. the fact that -- host: we will get mr. scott to respond to the question. go ahead. guest: sure. al gore's wrongness is pretty well understood. "the inconvenient truth" documentary. al gore drove this process and public attention to it. we are now six years after copenhagen. that was almost a disaster. i was there. the entire agreement among 190, even the way in which these u.n. ,alks go on was at issue whether it would survive that near collapse. host: why was it an almost disaster? guest: because they went into it with some expectation that they would get a global agreement. the expectations were curtailed quite a bit before the copenhagen meeting. but the idea was they were going to get something, something that includes all these countries. in the end, president obama arrives in copenhagen, met with world leaders, including from china and brazil, and they worked out, basically, a side deal that patched together some incremental progress. when you think about how far we are away now from when al gore launched his documentary, now it is really a focus on an issue where, not only the country themselves, developing nations are at the table, but the amount of business involvement we will have in paris on the sidelines of these talks -- host: major businesses? major businesses, companies like nestlé, dow chemicals, microsoft. these companies are pledging to back an ambitious climate deal. that's something we did not see to this degree in copenhagen. host: what about the former vice president? he show up to these things -- will he show up to these things? guest: i'm not sure about the former vice president. a lot of people coming for the opening on monday. they will be talking in two different plenary rooms at the same time to accommodate so many. that's a pretty important point. those world leaders are going to be coming, urging their own negotiators to get to the table and get a deal out of paris. the idea is, with that kind of prodding from your boss, maybe you are a little more likely to reach some type of consensus. host: here is carol in fairmount, west virginia. good morning. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i was calling in. i noticed there are like billions of dollars going into climate change. my question is, where is god in all this? he created the world, the climate, he controls it, and it's changing all the time. my question is, if you have all the scientists saying that there is climate change going on, that's fine. but you also have scientists saying that it's not happening. where do you go with that? what's the facts to back all that up? guest: what's interesting is, you know, at bloomberg bna, we basically track the policies and the developments that investors and our other readers want to know. they want to know what are the policies that are going to come out of this, what do we have to do in our businesses, what are going to be the requirements. that said, even outside of the secular world, we have had the pope come to washington to speak, new york to speak, including an address on climate change. maybe what was not as visible in that were the other acumen nickel leaders who also waiting to urge action -- other ecumenical leaders who also wei ghed in to urge action. there is an involvement from religious leaders that is akin to what i was speaking about. that change is reflected by the public's interest and attention to this. host: the vatican will be at the paris talks? guest: they will have a representative, a little quirk of the human system is that they have -- of the u.n. system is that they have status, rome, as an independent entity, to observe at these talks. it is not a formal role. they are not negotiating something for themselves that they will be bound by, but they will be a presence, no doubt. host: to wisconsin, dan. caller: a quick three comments. the first one is, i don't doubt that maybe there is some kind of change going on, but, you know, the companies that you mentioned stand to make billions of dollars off of this. geo engineering is a huge factor in the world today. there is a lot of stuff that is not mentioned through the government. there is a great site called geo engineeringwatch that people can go to on the internet to get more details on it. there are companies, like monsanto, that make engineered chemfor a lot of the spraying they have been doing. a lot of this stuff from the government is not brought up, and it should be. that's it. ering: on the geo-engine angle -- host: what is that, exactly? guest: it's the debate for tomorrow. -- s cut our missions emissions, reduce carbon emissions from power plants. look at it from the other end. let's find ways to spray material into the atmosphere that can reflect back that he fromthe sun -- the heat the sun. let's address this with technological things. this is very complicated. one decides that it's climate fix is to apply something -- tot its climate fix is apply some into the atmosphere, something a lot of other countries don't want. that may be a solution coming in decades, but for now we are looking at -- the solutions we have today, more renewable energy, putting more investment in that. the idea paris is to provide a signal to investors that we d inwable energy -- that leav renewable energy as a driver. the inside joke for reporters and participants is there is an two weeks.r this, it ends on november -- i have never been at one that ends in two weeks. there is a chance because of what happened with the terrorist attacks two weeks ago friday that there will be an assumption by negotiators and the countries that we need to clear away all the clutter of past disagreements, to some extent, and focus on getting a deal. sitting around a table for another 36 hours is not going to fundamentally change the agreement. i think there is a chance we will get out of paris a little sooner from these talks, anyway, although i'd love to stay for a few days after. host: in cottonwood, idaho, on our republican line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: gentlemen, first of all, i would like to has to guess if he is a scientist -- i would like to ask the guest if he is a scientist. ecumenical leaders, religious leaders are not scientists. personally, i would love nothing more than a wonderful, clean air as pure water, and clean as possible. but the idea that the government, our american government is going to foot the bill for china and the third help theirns, to environment, it is just nothing but a moneymaking windfall. and do you trust the united nations to handle all of this and oversee all of this? and this is what i think our president is in for, -- i think our president is aiming for, and americans will foot the bill. we will not see any changes from these kinds of laws, because they are unscientific. can this gentleman tell me what the climate was back in the 1100's? what was it like back then? did we really have this kind of weather that then? host: she put a couple of points on the table. she asked if you were a scientist. guest: i'm not a scientist. i'm a journalist. thatwould disconnect entirely from science, but i think part of our job is to be informed. as i was saying earlier, the way i frame this is, for our readers and for the public, they need to know what's being done about this issue, even to the point that readers may not believe that climate change is occurring. because, if that means, the obama administration is moved to make vehicles more fuel-efficient under standards during this administration as part of what it's putting on the table in paris, to show this is how it's going to meet its pledge, that affects all of us. knowing there are policies out there and changes that are afoot to fight this, that is funny reason for us to cover that for our readers -- that is plenty reason for us to cover that for our readers. and scientists, what i think they might say, which i rely on to discuss some of the changes being debated -- climate change has always occurred. we have had ice ages and we have had warming periods the issue. , is how fastdegree does the climate increase? they are looking at a 3.6 fahrenheit, 4, 5, or 6 degrees fahrenheit increase by 2100. that's a big concern. tot's not a move akin something like this lopez of climate change back and forth in and out of an ice age -- like of the slow pace of climate change back and forth in and out of an ice age. the large debate is about pace. host: dean scott is with bloomberg bna, their climate change reporter. there is a chart from bloomberg bna on the top 10 in meters -- top 10 emitters of carbon by metric ton. china, india, the u.s. -- will the u.s. help pick up the tab for smaller countries, or china? themay not be able to avoid technology necessary to reduce their carbon emissions? i was talking about the near collapse in copenhagen six years ago. then secretary of state hillary clinton came to the copenhagen talks and said developed countries like the u.s., the u.s. being part of this partnership, will put 100 billion dollars -- $100 billion on the table beginning in 2020. this would not be all government money. it would be money to help -- it was twofold. it would help developing nations struggling with this issue, hard hit by it, low-lying island nations, etc., help them adapt, but also to get these countries on a trajectory where they are losing more low carbon sources as they develop more renewable resources. they are going to develop just as the u.s. developed and european countries and japan. theif they do that, scientists warn we are on a trajectory that we cannot actually address that problem at that point. that's the money that has been raised. over on capitol hill, that is a huge source of the debate that we follow. there is a green climate fund that the u.s. has contributed over four years a total of $3 billion. that's the u.s. contribution to the green climate fund, which is only part of the $100 billion. the good news for these countries that are putting the footing hes -- are tab for this, a lot of the money is already out there. $0s not like we are at billion and we need to get to $100 billion. estimates are there is something like $50 billion already flowing. it's a big debate on capitol hill. should we be crossing public money into a pool that will be used by developing nations to grapple with this problem? that's a big debate we are following closely. it's going to be an issue in paris, because developing countries on one side will want more assurances that something -- that money is coming. and developed countries want to make sure they are not put on the hook for more. that is one of the key issues they will be talking about these talks. host: ottowa, iowa, democrats' line. caller: good morning. dean, thanks for being here this morning. i have several points. i hope you will a lot me enough will allot me enough time to get them out. my first point is, with corporate tax cuts such a theme in our society, the corporate media really isn't covering this the way it should. i give to you the subject of the fukushima that is going on, an environmental disaster that they are not covering. the other thing is that the low-lying areas, all of this infrastructure that you are talking about, i get that, because i work installing and building infrastructure on my life -- i get that because i worked installing and building infrastructure all my life. if we don't start building up the low-lying areas now, when thereater does get there, is going to be an environmental disaster that nobody has talked about up until now. there is going to be a large have it withcan't corporate taxes and the corporate media ignoring it. in the third point i would like to make is that some of these -- and the third point i would like to make is that some of these people haven't taken time to understand this problem or don't think rationally or in an engineering point of view. they need to understand relational heating and cooling -- understand radiational heating and cooling. the ice iced windows -- dwindles, there will be a heat wave surge that none of them are prepared for, neither are there chosen or grandchildren. guest: a couple things there. this issue about the impacts of climate change and how we are going to grapple with those on a number of fronts. how are we going to adapt to these for low-lying areas? that's a really interesting dilemma that has come to the forefront in the last couple of years. the defense department and other experts on national security have been warning for the last couple years -- one of their concerns with climate change is that when you have this rapid increase in temperature -- this rapid an increase in temperature and rising sea levels and more severe storms that are expected to come along, we have military bases in low-lying areas in the world. our interest is in just in the physical infrastructure of those bases and making sure they don't have eroded coastlines, but it's also other countries and our strategic interest in those countries -- if they are disabled further because we have drought, we have people moving across the country lines, like we are seeing with the syrian refugees -- that is certainly not being put -- the blame for the syrian refugee crisis is not climate but it is that kind of movement of people that is among the thingshat the defense department is looking at going forward over the coming decades and saying, we need to prepare for this, they call it a threat multiplier, among the other threats that exist in national security. we are seeing a lot more in that issue, adapting to and planning for impacts. host: to the republican line. a former --tom, farmer all my life. there was a story about the edmund fitzgerald that went down on the lake. that was 40 years ago. --ost to the day i'm kind of getting off the subject. i wish you would not change it to climate change. i wish you would keep it at what you started out, global warming. when i got up yesterday, i looked up into the sky. 27 jet streams -- 27. and then i talked to a nasa scientist here two years ago on c-span. he was being interviewed. we had a real good debate, a real good talk about how they were studying it. how do you study it? have you ever studied the effect on jets -- on the effect of the climate? he says, yes, we have. i said, really? 911,id, yeah, because at -- 9/11, we did not have any jets in the air for four days. i said, what was that about? he said, have you ever stopped on the road when a semi goes by at 60 miles per hour? it damn near knox you off your near knocks you off your feet. what do you think about a jet flying over at 600 miles per hour? host: have you seen any effects on your crops from climate change or global warming? guest: no. i have been there for 40 years. a lot of the effects i have seen, and i agree with scientists, are on some spots on the heating of the sun. if you turn up a flame and hold your finger 5" from it, your finger will get hotter. guest: i like any reference to the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald. it's interesting to get this sort of on the ground reaction, on the ground impacts people are seeing from climate change. i like this question about global warming. "gs used to be the term, lobal warming." what a lot of reporters who cover the u.n. climate talks -- they use it interchangeably, but we prefer climate change, because that term has been adopted by clients and -- by scientists. all kind of things are going on with climate change, and it is not just a global coastlines did, say rhode island or florida, your concern is probably more about rising sea level than just the impact of temperature. host: another call from bolingbrook, illinois. caller: good morning. i have a home in canada and the u.s., and we have had this home for many years. and when i travel through canada, i see thousands of windmills and clean energy out of canada. in the u.s., we see very little of this. and talking to canadian friends and farmers that are there, i fear that -- i hear that they are just so interested in keeping their air and water clean. it is like no higher priority. but in the u.s., i don't see that. about this xl, pipeline that was going to be processed -- and when i got to thinking about how we said no to that -- could get think they away with our lack of interest in clean air and energy, and send dirty oil through our country? i think america we have to start thinking clean. wow. what a difference between the u.s. and canada. host: how did the keystone pipeline enter into the climate change debate? this is a transfer of oil. how did that impact climate change? the oilhe concern about that was going to be moved through that pipeline is the carbon impact from tar sands. it is worrisome for some who look at that as an impact on the climate also. if you look at the -- this is a big puzzle -- than the average percentage, no matter how small, if it can be addressed somehow through the decisions you want to make along the way, depending on how fast -- cost effective they are, etc., can make some difference. the interesting thing about the keystone xl decision was that the administration decided to reject it and did so just a couple weeks before we go to paris for these climate talks. that was a decision that could have been made even earlier in the year. there has been a lot of study. the republicans on capitol hill have hammered the president about this. the decision was made just this fall before the paris climate talks commence. i think it was done, to some degree, as a signal that the u.s. -- here is another thing that the administration, the u.s., is trying to do. it has a decision to make. it is making the one that is low carbon. so, when it gets to the table in paris, it probably has a little better position to say it is under the every year, obama administration, they can make that argument, at least, and be less susceptible to the argument that the u.s. is just not doing enough. host: let's go to your other job at bloomberg bna, covering the climate issues on capitol hill. the headline of one of your pieces says "republicans are gearing up to undercut obama on climate accord." it includes one senate committee "one senate committee aide turned a 'preem ptive' resolution -- guest: there is really strange -- the agreement we have runs out around the end of the paris talks. the timing, while quincy that so, is going to be very interesting -- while coincidental, is going to be very interesting. there is at least one democrat, west virginia's joe manchin, supporting this resolution, one of two, actually. so, that would do a great deal, what i called earlier, issuing a sort of no-confidence vote in obama, right on the senate floor. you are in paris. we are in the senate. would be to attempt say that more than half of the senate does not believe you have the authority to say this or that it could be ratified. if it had to be ratified by the current u.s. senate. that's the undercutting -- if it would be ratified b, it not be ratified by the current u.s. senate. that's the undercutting that is going on. dean scott, senior climate change reporter for bloomberg bna. you can follow more on twitter, @bloombergbna. thanks for being with us. guest: thanks for having me. host: more ahead on "washington journal." we will talk to jacqueline pata about public policy issues impacting native american communities across the country and the state of native american communities as "washington journal" continues, after this break. >> beginning thursday at 4 p.m. eastern, we:00 p.m. will take you inside the national world war ii museum and look back at the legacy. starting with the allied invasion of north africa, through the day and the water of the pacific. -- share the expense of soldiers fronts,ht on both including african serving in a segregated military. our new series, road to the white house takes a look at the presidential campaign of ronald reagan, bill clinton -- saturday afternoon at 2:00, president of the society of the honor guard, the history of arlington national cemetery, the -- storiesation about some of the notable people who are buried at the cemetery. sunday afternoon at 4:00, the -- news for special interviews with officers and list admin and the widow of a combat casualty. american history tv all weekend only at c-span3. >> the person who shot president reagan and president reagan was not wearing a bullet -- bullet-proof vest. john hinckley was stocking jimmy carter -- bookthor of the --sassinations, threat, the physical threats made against presidential candidates throughout american history. >> that have been 16 presidents who have faced threats. i also cover the presidential hueydates, he we long -- , -- who was assassinated paralyzed for life in 1972. i cover the candidates and presidents. >> sunday night at 8:00 on c-span q&a. >> "washington journal," continues. is nativember american heritage month and here to discuss these issues is jacqueline pata. as we talked to you towards the end of the year, what is the state of native american tribes and communities in the united states? jacqueline: they are strong and we actually do believe that tribal governments are strong and getting stronger. countryribes across the addressing governmental needs. we also see this great resilience in our cultural values and our languages. host: we have 5.2 million americans who identify themselves with at least part american indian, or alaska native. identify as alaska native alone. 566 federally recognized tribes in the u.s.. what does it take for a attractive recognized by the united states? jacqueline: there is a federal process that they must go through. they have to demonstrate that they have always had a governmental relationship, and ongoing governmental relationship. a faction of another tribe, where a group that might have splintered off. and that they have a continuing presence in the community, unless they have been removed by other policies of the federal government. host: you are the executive director of the national congress of american indians, you are based in washington. what is the role of your organization in terms of what you are looking for from the federal government? and which is the organization and the government that your group deals with the most? jacqueline: we say we are the national congress of american indians, just like congress. as you mentioned the 566 tribes, tribes are then members of our organization. they get credentials, they have representatives, they have delegates and meetings. he passed resolutions, just like congress passes law. give us alutions policy directions that they want to see in washington dc. to be able to make sure that was a presence in washington dc so that their adverse policies but not great but that we were not aware of. we are still a consensus-based organization. we actually get work done and have done it by consensus. , congressth policies reaches out to us to get the direction of the indian country and we work closely with the white house and department of interior, usda and fda just. -- fhs. of course congress and other agencies. we work reckless congress and tried to make sure that laws that are written, whether they are about tribes do not harm tribes by inadvertently not understand the impact it may make. host: we welcome your calls and comments to jacqueline pata. is the number to call for those of you in the eastern time zone, 202-748-8001 for mountain and pacific. and 202-748-8000 -- issues that top your members are looking for you to talk about with the federal government? jacqueline: it changes constantly. we are trying to address some of -- employereces of mandate and how that affects tribes. with the department of interior, we are working on try to streamline the land leasing processes. we can actually restore land that might have been taken from us, or repurchase back and bring them back into tribes. and be able to make sure we can access them for viable economic development without hurdles. host: obama talked about native american youth during the travel nation conference in washington earlier this month. here's is what president obama have to say. [video clip]er.com/cspanwj >> suffer from significant health problems on the face obstacles and educational opportunity. a lot of the young people i have met have gone through the more than anybody should have to go through an entire lifetime at a very early age. using family members to violence, addiction, suicide and struggling with poverty that is unacceptable in the richest nation on earth. the circumstances are sometimes hard to drink your way to a better life. these challenges did not just happen randomly to indian country. result, accumulation of systematic discrimination. , thell of our young people end people i have met have also given me incredible hope. i see so much promise in them, some as determination. and the words of the native "kurt has been, bred into you, courage is in your blood." youare not alone, we want to know we believe in you. -- the potential of our native youth. at least 20 tribal nations have already become my brother's keeper communities to get more young people a shot at success. during theeline pata obama administration, has the situation improved? jacqueline: president obama is the best president for indian country. we have representatives -- a strong republican who has brought tribal leaders to the table to have policy conversations at the highest level. just a quick snapshot on to laborcording statistics, 11 point 3% unemployment and labor participation rate is nearly 60 -- 61%. ratesholism and mortality are higher than the general population. -- 12.5% reporting illicit drug use. it is the highest use of meth use is in the indian communities. the things wee of deal with, is a lot of historical trauma. i know that people do not necessarily understand what that means, has not been that long ago that we had forced removal of our children to go to boarding schools. my mom went to boarding school, my husband's mother went to boarding school. it has not been that long ago, we are still trying to bring address those issues. when we get closer to or back to our culture, our language, our traditions or practice, the strength of our youth and our communities -- host: the scope to washington dc, william. caller: i want to ask the lady, what are your thoughts on the washington ridge -- jacqueline: that is a question we can definitely speak about. in 1968, nca pass our first resolution with this derogatory name and mascot. our position has never changed. we are very involved with change the name. we want to create a win-win environment and create any networks. we are seeing across the country, people are changing the name. they are rallying together. thered hawks -- adidas at -- they came out and announced that they are going to help any school that needs financial support in changing the name. definitely, we see that this is a direct of respect and recognition for our tribal people as who we really are. host: what are your take on the name that's what are your thoughts on the name? politicalthink it is -- mountain-748-8001 pacific, and for eastern, 202-748-8002. alexis fromrom north carolina. hello? know, in would like to the last seven years -- can you hear me? host: listen to your phone, not the tv. caller: i want to know -- but to be community as far as the republicans blocking almost all administration initiative and how that has affected the community? jacqueline: we are one of the communities that work really well in a bipartisan fashion. we know that we need republicans , and we need democrats to be able to get our issues passed through congress and the support of the administration. the administration recognizes that too. we were able to get a lot of things accomplished last year. we were able to get the violence against women act passed, the indian health care improvement act passed. all of those are critical. wins these last seven years, but only because we recognize that we have to work outside of the aisle. this is one area that we seem to find common ground. on our democrat -- caller: my question is the with all of the native american gambling casinos in this country, why can't those tribes throughout the country request help from these gambling casinos to ease some of the problems that some of these native american or -- are having in various parts of the country? jacqueline: it is not any different than maybe the state of connecticut helping the state of rhode island. you have to do that by mutual consent. we do not put certain sanctions on connecticut, to say that you have to set a certain portion of your money to rhode island. however, i do want to say that the tribes that do, and even that you see gambling casinos there are country, not that many that are successful, it depends on location. those that are, they contribute aggressively to indian country. ofy have stellar records giving back to other tribal communities that are less fortunate and continue to do so on a regular basis. oft: what is the number native american run casinos? jacqueline: there are about 200 casinos. to 40 that are more successful than others. the rest operate just like any other. you see state operated business lotteries and do it for a purpose. all of the revenue that comes from gambling, by congress, are dictated to go back to the community. that pays for the infrastructure, roads, health education system. host: we have a line set aside for native americans. in california. caller: my questions concerning national congress of the usa, the title76, i held of national congress for american indians. i was wondering, based on your experience over the years, since then, how effective do you think organization has been as far as identifying individual tribal concerns? navajo, and i would like to have your comment on that. grown,ine:ncai has only and not only as a political voice, but also in the representation of tribes. we collaborate very strongly with all of the other organizations, national indian health board, national indian welfare, and the list goes on. a are recognizing them as technical experts at bringing together the policy leaders and technical experts. we have tribes like navajo nation's that participate very regularly. recently elected president of navajo -- gave an incredibly powerful speech. even though our membership, not all tribes will be a member from one year to the next, we work for the benefit of all tribes, regardless if they are members or not. tribalhat is the largest nation in the united states? jacqueline: navajo nation. caller: good morning how are you this morning? her onto congratulate the way she expresses herself and bless the whole nation. -- robert from arizona. i would like to address the washington redskins. this year, it will be politically correct, and it will be literally correct. the name should be the washington dc americans, because they were the americans. they were misnamed indians to pull this political crap that republicans pull all of the time. rising -- colonizing an area and taking something that belongs to someone else, they misconstrued the subject. this here was america. it was america a lot of years before a lot of the intruders and interlopers into this area. the issue of the name comes up a lot. people wonder why this is a big deal to us. it really represents what people think about us and the respect behind it. we have seen study after study with our youth, when they see these images, versus other images, and how it makes them feel. we have also seen that in politics, we work in washington dc, the misunderstanding as who we are as people is core to the decisions they make. host: here is a caller from florida. caller: i would like to make a comment, tomorrow we are celebrating thanksgiving. , i thinkcan-american about the pilgrims -- the land was already cultivated. up --growing [indiscernible] i can remember as a elementary understand the-- indian people and their contributions to the american society. as an african-american, i feel so proud of the indians and their contributions. i think, when we do not respect people's culture, we tend to violate their rights. either african-american, or indian-american. as we celebrate thanksgiving tomorrow, i'm starting to understand. when pilgrims came to together -- came to america on the land was already cultivated. the indians already did their part. this is what i was think about. host: thank you for your comment. jacqueline: thank you. i was thinking about thanksgiving myself. some of us will be eating more orn harvested from other native americans. it is after the harvest have , thanksgiving is very traditional. in our cultures, we all have a feast in the fall that we share our bounties with others. in our clans and our tribes. host: a supreme court case yesterday dealing with hawaii and the native americans in that state. opponents asked the high court yesterday to block native american vote count. they say the product of an election -- asking the u.s. supreme court to block votes from being counted in what they argue is an unconstitutional leave, racially exclusive process. that is your organization have any input on that case -- is your organization have any input on that case? jacqueline: we passed resolution several times. there is no doubt that native hawaiians are indigenous people of america. a lot of phone lines their governments control, but they did have a form of government that was in control. the government operated as the government, it should be federally recognized as a body of indigenous peoples. host: let's hear from springfield, illinois. that,: going along with why hasn't there been more push --m native americans separation of church and state. the rulings have been used against the tribes. and -- doctrine put out by a religious organization that says if you do not convert to our way of belief, we can come and take your land. it is still being used today. as recent as a couple of years ago, by one of the highest courts of the land, one of the most respected court, the united states supreme court justices that even i respect. this one issue, i believe she is dead wrong, it is anti-unconstitutional and it is against everything of the separation of church and state. jacqueline: that is a great comment. folksd just have to urge that have not gone and go to the native american museums in washington dc and see an incredible exhibit on treaties. when you talk about this doctrine of discovery, it with you there at the moment in time when the europeans came across and the relationship with native americans. that relationship was one of mutual respect. both -- live side-by-side and respect each other as we move forward. clearly, policies have changed that across the country. we would like to return back to that point of mutual respect. is a caller from west virginia, mary. caller: i was one to ask how she feels -- my husband and i have trouble all around the united states. the nativeied americans because my grandmother was part native american. is, withnted to know all of the foreigners coming into the united states right now, and having everything given to them. housing -- we were in the lakota nation and native americans looked really poor and practically in shacks. host: where is that exactly? utah.: i believe it is in jacqueline: she was talking about lakota. caller: i was wondering, with them living like this and the trail of tears, and they had all of these beautiful land in the east, i'm wondering how you feel about why the government would allow these people living in such horrid, small living conditions. why they were not give them back some of their land and let them live? jacqueline: that is one of the policies we are working on. we are doing a lot of work on land restoration. a lot of the land has already towards farms in the allotment era. we trying to restore land. talk about immigration, and that was a difficult situation for the ncai to talk about because of the history behind that. but, we stood strong and be able to recognize that we are americans for a americans. we want to make sure that the immigration policies are right and i have other people subject to the same kind of conditions that native americans are subject to. we also believe there is a lot of synergy and some of the things we can share together, like language protection. connecticut.n caller: i'm calling because i wanted to talk about your feelings about the reservation system in the united states since being implement the by the federal government. we have the highest poverty rate living in reservations between 30% and 62% of all native americans living on a reservation of poverty today. that is exponentially higher than any other group in the united states. toa direct correlation policies on the reservation system being able to not give them property rights and at the same time not give them subsidies. what is your opinion on that? jacqueline: that is a large question. i would have to say that, on reservations, all of the numbers you say are right. poverty is high and unemployment is high. people choose to live where their cultural bearings are and where there committee is. we cannot go back to the place where we will able to our hunting grounds and come back to our winter and spring communities. we were forced into these reservations, which is greater challenges, because they are not the most economically -- they do not have the best opportunities for natural resources, etc. i think the most important thing , under self-determination, it has allowed tribes to find solutions and give them the tools to do that. recognize them as government, allow them to have the same tools as government, like taxation and other things, that they can actually do. generate revenue and make differences in their community. we still think as tribes and reservations as second classes -- citizens in addition not be so. -- the group's legislation with the -- oregon. what is your organization looking for from congress in terms of any sort of drought relief or programs? jacqueline: we are support of the drought relief, as well as other climate change measures. them firsttry is affected, because we are still tied to the land and resources from the land. you can see the challenges from onlyisheries, which is not an economic challenge, but also a lifestyle, subsistence, harvesting challenge. anything we can do to remedy the situation is that were created by man themselves, we are in support of it as actively -- we have a team in paris making sure that our business voices are heard during these discussions that are happening. host: at the climate change talk? jacqueline: yes at the climate summit. host: jacqueline pata is the director at the -- thanks for being with us and have a happy thanksgiving. if you are one of the 47 million traveling, of the upstate travels and join us tomorrow morning for our thanksgiving morning "washington journal," at 7:00 a.m. eastern. have a great weekend and happy thanksgiving. -- ♪ >> coming up this afternoon, president obama will pardon the national thanksgiving turkey. this will be the 68th anniversary of the event. this year's turkey at alternative for hatched -- you will be able to watch today's ceremony at 2:45 eastern on c-span. coming up tonight, we will show you are marks from david

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