Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20160909

Motion to impeach the irs commissioner. What should congress be focusing on . Emocrats, 202 7488000 republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488003. You can also reach us on social media, on twitter and on facebook. There is a lot on the plate of lawmakers who are in session only until the end of the month. They will be out for all of october. One issue pointed out in the Washington Post deals with a bill to allow 9 11 victims families to sue saudi arabia. The house will vote on the bill to allow the families of victims of the september 11 attacks to sue saudi arabia over its alleged support of terrorism. The measure, which is likely to pass just in time for the 15th anniversary of the attacks, will be sent to the president s desk. The white house has resisted it over fears it could harm the relationship with saudi arabia jeopardizingcedent american officials overseas. Congress only has a couple of weeks to deal with this and other measures. We are asking you what we think you think they should focus on. We have been since first. Good morning. Caller how are you doing . Host im good. Caller what would you like to see lawmakers focus on . Caller the war in syria. Host what would you like to see them address . Caller i would like to see it ended. Host ok. One of the other issues facing lawmakers is funding the zika virus. That is having an impact not only on congress agenda, but also congressional races, as pointed out in the san antonio current. One congressional race illustrates how even Something Like funding Disease Control and prevention can get twisted beyond recognition once it hits the congress. The challenger to republican congressman will heard has been hammering his opponent on zika funding ever since congress failed to pass it before leaving for their vacation this summer. One of the ways the congressional agenda is affecting congressional house races and a little bit more about how house races are going, lets take a look at House Speaker paul ryan and his efforts to help congressional republicans. Im doing a thing with todd young pretty soon. , as speaker of the house, is to help insure we preserve the House Majority. Hoping preserve the House Majority helps our ticket up and down. It helps nominees all the way around. Making sure republicans are running strong will be good for all republicans. Host we are talking to our viewers about what they would like to see congress focus on. From marion,ler north carolina. What would you like to see lawmakers prioritize . Caller um. Im here. Im sorry. First of all, i would like to eliminate the job corps program. [indiscernible] the participants are committing violence. The congress are spending too much on. Host ok, are there any other issues that you think should be pressing in the minds of lawmakers . , they should concentrate on making it harder for the people who are ,ommitting crimes on children making it tougher for them materials. Phile from we have a call nampa, idaho on the republican line. Rick, what would you like to see the government focus on . Caller i have a real simple idea that congress should focus on. Write this down. Ifcalled order code you go to page 30 and 31, it will show you how much money weve spent on foreign aid. The grand total is 1. 7 trillion. Have0 states of the union contributed 550 million. Host what exactly would you like to see change about that . Caller suspended all the way. , hemonths ago, mr. Orourke said we came up short 3 billion on the veterans administration. We should redirect the funds from overseas to the veterans administration. Mr. Leahy came up 1 billion short in transportation needs. Redirect funds from transportation im overseas to transportation. ,o make a long story short china contributes to foreign aid worldwide, they have been practicing what our president has been preaching. We need to preserve our future. We have funding issues, education needs, we need to look at the last few pages of that report. 3031. 66 years of involvement. Willisp next, we have from atlanta on the democratic line. What should members of congress focus on . Caller how are you doing . All right. It just amazes me how all these right wing racist people calling in always talking about what the president is not doing. If they really knew what the work of the government was supposed to be host what do you think the government should be doing . Caller im getting to that. My thing is that i think congress should be working with the president. They should stop opposing what the president is trying to pass. He has been the best president we have ever had to try to help someone. They just dont like that because of the color of his skin. I really think that the congress should be trying to work along with the president. They dont want to see him do reiding because harry called it one time, they tried to make him a one term president. People dont understand what is they call in saying that the president is not doing his job. Over in syria, doing the thing with those guys, isis and all that. Host ok, what is one issue that the president has been trying to pass that has not gone through congress that is gun control. Lets take a look at what democratic House Speaker nancy pelosi said about the potential a gunse who staged control sit in may face penalties. [video clip] ido dont think they should do it at all. If they do, we would welcome that. Going to do something for now to punish and then try to change the rules for the next congress. Any congress can change the rules for the next congress is the next congress. I think they are just feeding the beast with that kind of conversation. But if they want to come in and say that we are going to punish you for having a demonstration about gun violence prevention led by an allamerican icon, john lewis, bring it on. Pelosihat was nancy talking about the prospect of punishment for lawmakers who staged that sit in. We have tom calling in from sarasota, florida on the democratic line. What do you think congress should be focusing on . Caller they should focus on passing the mosquito the zika virus. , they areo understand going to say, are you republican . You think the mosquitoes are going to ask, are you democrat . Mosquitoes are going to bite you whether you are black or white, republican. We need to pass this law. Host you are calling from florida. I imagine you are concerned about the virus spreading. Go ahead. Caller yes, exactly. It is all around the world. People travel. Airplanes. Here. Start it is like a cancer. You think it is going to stay in florida . You think the mosquitoes are going to say, i cannot passed to georgia, i cannot go to texas . Mosquitoes are going to fly everywhere around the world. Host speaking of the zika virus politicocording to the senate is nearing the zika virus funding breakthrough. Senate leaders may be nearing a truce in the ideological battle over planned parenthood that has crippled Congress Response to the zika virus. Senior senators and aids say the main impediment to a 1. 1 billion bill to combat the virus , a fight over which Health Centers in puerto rico can use zika funding, is likely to be dropped from the debate. Up next, we have derek calling in from oak park, illinois. What do you think congress should focus on . Caller good morning. And thene, Congress Obama administration should be focusing on the gun violence in chicago. Oak park is right next to chicago. Them, theyma and have been ignoring the problem. He has not done a good job. He has not led on the issue. They dont even track the guns. Restricting them is just a ploy. They are lazy. Host let me ask you this. What specific restrictions would you like to see congress impose . Would you like to see more background checks . What would you like to see congress do . , i did not say a gun ban. I said, track the guns. They are not doing the common sense things when it comes to the gun violence. If they get the guns were politically attain them, they are to be able to find out where they purchased them from. Criminals are not that smart. Holder, they had an operation. Im wondering if they really dont want to know where the guns are. They had it in mexico, when they were sending them guns down there. , hisy, i think obama concern is definitely not with the black community or congress does not care about the black community. We had 13 killings just monday, on labor day. Issuesne of the other facing congress is the push by some conservative republicans in the house to bring impeachment proceedings against the irs commissioner. In the Washington Post it talks about those plans. Republican leaders are seeking to delay the vote on this measure. House Republican Leaders are hoping for a dramafree september that involves voting on pieces of their Campaign Season policy agenda and averting a government shutdown. Some gop members are pushing for action on the issue. A special motion was filed in july that would force a floor vote on the impeachment, but some lawmakers are taking to delays. That is one of the many items facing congress in these weeks before they break again in october before the election. Victor is calling in from slower to honor independent line. What would you Like Congress to focus on . Caller i would like to see Congress Pass a bill to extend medicare for everyone. We are spending 18 of gdp on health care, where every other developed country has a singlepayer system not tied to employment that covers all of their citizens. I would also Like Congress, the republican members of congress, Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan, to stop playing president and support the proposals of donald trump. They are in complete opposition to donald trump on trade, on , onal security, on medicare outsourcing of jobs, and on the cost of nato and other military matters. Those two are playing president. They are not the president. They have not been elected president. They should back the republican nominees proposals or just be quiet. They dont support him at all and they want their they are usurping the power of the president of the United States by coming up with a run proposals. They have not been elected by the majority of the American People. Ift do you worry that donald trump is elected, if he is in the white house, that that will continue . Or do you think they will be more incentivized to Work Together . Caller they wont work with anyone. They want the power. They are usurping the power of the president. Look at what they have done to barack obama. They have totally obstructed everything. We dont even have Nine Supreme Court justices because of Mitch Mcconnell. Calling inve owen from victoria, texas on a republican line. Caller i think congress ought to be focused on the 1. 7 billion cash money that was sent over to the terrorist group in iran. I watched it last night on cspan and i almost throwed up. Have aout here dont job. The zika virus. Kids going hungry, schools in disarray, no police to police the areas. From aboutn in cash 30something countries on a. Lane going over to terrorists who killed our humans. Host what do you think congress should do now . Caller i think they ought to trees,gate it until the the cherry trees start losing their leaves. This is ridiculous. No money for the zika virus, no money for the poor people in this country, yet they can pack a cargo plane with 1. 7 billion in cash. I wish somebody out there would wake up and start telling washington that they better start thinking about the people of this damn country instead of these terrorists. Edwardext, we have calling in from delaware on our independent line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host what do you think should be Congress Main focus before they break again . Caller i was actually focused on the first issue brought up. 9 11 victims want to sue the terrorists . Host why do you think that should be the top priority . Caller i think it opens up a bridge for the American People to really address syria. Some of the footage leaked out of syria, people dont agree with. Not attacking their religion, but some of their religious factions, we dont really agree with. This gives us the ability to address that as the people. As the government. The government does have the relationship with syria and they dont want to set up and i understand that. The American People do have a voice against what is happening over there. I think this would be a good start for that. At least, opening conversations regarding that. Host up next, joe is calling in from north carolina. Our democratic line. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host im good. Caller i think that congress should get rid of the lobbyists. That is what they should do. They should get rid of the people bribing them for decades. That is what the problem is in this country. You have corporations bribing our government. We dont have a government anymore. We have a corporate dictatorship. Thank you. Kevin is calling in from los angeles. Good Early Morning to you. Caller good morning. Host what would you Like Congress to focus on . Caller i think it is a tough question for congress to only focus on one thing. I think tax reform. I would like to see them talk about the minimum wage. I would like to see them take care about the military veterans. I would like to see them do something about the cost of higher education. I do believe in our right to bear arms and i believe in exactly what that says, however, but for assault weapons, they might want to consider that. It is a controversial issue. Infrastructure, as well. Roads and bridges. We need to take care of our home. Host coming up, we have two members of congress to talk about what is on lawmakers plates. First up, tom reed, a republican from new york, a congressman. He is a donald trump supporter and he will be talking about his support for the candidate, as well as issues facing the candidate country. Democratill have Gregory Meeks, who supports Hillary Clinton. Stay with us. This weekend, book tv bring to 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors. Eastern,night at 9 00 new york city principal nadia lopez talks about starting an innercity middle School School middle school in her book the bridge to brilliance. She gained National Attention when featured on humans of new york. Afterward, former new York Attorney general Alberto Gonzales talks about his book true faith and allegiance. By the walliewed street journal Legal Affairs reporter. There have been several memoirs written, perspectives have been there. I thought it might be important to add mine. There has been a lot written and said about me. Some of it true, some of it not true. I want to get my perspective about the events that shaped me. Sunday, political cartoonist book trudeau discusses his yuge combs on elected u. S. President s and their first year in office. Gregoryausbaugh and malveaux. Go to booktv. Org for the complete schedule. Ist joining us now congressman tom reed, a republican from new york state. E is a donald trump supporter he is here to talk to us about that, as well as congress agenda. Thank you for joining me. Guest thank you so much for having me on. Host at first, the House Republicans are going to conference later this morning to talk about the strategy related to funding the government beyond september 30. What do you expect . Guest we will have a good family conversation. That is why i so appreciate speaker ryan. Paul wants to have these conversations. Im very confident we will be able to come up with a resolution that gets us through september 30. We will see where it goes. Host the hill talks a little bit about the move to Fund Congress and says that House Speaker ryan faces new pressures from house conservatives, a year after the Freedom Caucus that pressured john boehner to resign. Members of the conservative group have been threatening paul ryan. Members are furious about that the new speaker did not do more to help the representative from kansas in his failed primary bid this summer. To back pressuring ryan a vote to impeach the irs commissioner. What do you think about the Freedom Caucus and the threats, as the hill called it . Guest i do appreciate each member and each members right to express themselves. They were elected by their voice to washington dc in the manner they so choose. Im always hopeful and im always trying to be part of the toort in the conference bring people together. This is not about threatening or putting down a marker and you lock yourself in and never say what you will never do, so to speak. Early once i learned during my tenure in washington. With the Freedom Caucus, they have their opinions, but we can get through this and we will. Host we are talking to congressman tom reed of new york, a republican from new york. Democrats can call 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. Your questions and comments for the congressman. You supported donald trump early on. Have your views changed since march, when you first supported him . Guest no, when we look at the president ial cycle and the president ial election, this is a binary choice. We have to choose. Knowing what hillary is, what ,er agenda is, the status quo establishment type of mindset that she is going to bring to the table, i look at donald trump as an opportunity, as an agent of change, a disruptor, someone who is going to do something in washington. When i came here in 2010, i can to change the culture of washington dc and i think donald trump gives us the best chance to do that. Host lets take a look at what donald trump said recently. [video clip] mr. Trump she is always talking about things that she is going to do. She has been there for more than 30 years. She has never done anything about it, never done anything. And all you have to do is look at new york state, when she ran for senator she said she would bring jobs back to new york state. It is a disaster. No jobs have come back. Jobs have left. New york state, upstate new york, the areas she was talking about, they are disasters. All you have to do is look at new york state. She said she was going to bring tremendous jobs back, it will be wonderful. Just like she is saying now. She would not know how to bring a job back. She would not have a clue. It is all talk, but nothing happens. Host do you agree that upstate new york, where you are from, is a disaster . Guest i live in the house my grandfather built in 1921. I have been living there my entire life. I have 11 brothers and sisters. I know what donald is talking about. Our area has had Great Success at times. It has pockets of Great Success. There are people that are struggling. There are areas that are struggling. He is absolutely correct. We need to do better for the rust belt. We need to do better for the manufacturing base. Donald trump gives us that opportunity. Host what do you think he will do . Guest he is a privatebased person. He is a business guy. He does not have 30 years of working in bureaucracy, like Hillary Clinton. He is going to bring those business models, he is going to bring the commitment to Economic Prosperity that he has done personally. That is a huge difference. Host we have a lot of callers waiting to talk to you. Noreen is calling in from connecticut. Good morning. Caller good morning, how are you . I do not agree with anything donald says when it comes to Vladimir Putin and saying hes going to bring back jobs and saying all these different lies that he has said so many, i cannot keep up. He says so many and i fact check everything he says. Myselfing i fact check to make sure what he is saying, as it lies or truth . He tells so many lies i cannot even keep up anymore. Vladimir putin, i do not think that is even a good idea. People went to war to fight with russia to keep america safe. Host lets let congressman reed respond to that. Donald trump doubled down on his support, his praise of Vladimir Putin and says he prefers him over the president. Guest i respect your opinion and i applaud your effort to fact check. In the age of the internet there is a lot of information but there is a lot of misinformation. When you talk about donald trump, his commitment to securing america, when he references putin he is looking at where are our potential allies . Even the enemies of our enemies are our friends. Trying to align interests is something he is trying to tap into and i support that because we have a common enemy and a common threat. Even though we may not have a relationship or be the closest allies, maybe try to develop that relationship to keep american citizen safe. Host donald trump said he could win new york state, a state that has not gone to a republican in recent memory. Do you think you can . Guest i do not give up hope. I am an eternal optimist. We are going to keep fighting for it, but the reality, i am also a practical person. New york is a heavy blue state and when he had the city of new york, he is going to do very well. It is an issue that is generated from the concentration of blue voters in the city in my opinion. Host up next, calling in from ithaca, york on the republican line. Caller thank you. Before i start i would like to thank you everyone behind the scenes every day that makes these programs possible. It is an invaluable source of hearing everyone and constituents across the country. Congressman rated, im glad to be able to speak with you congressman reed, i am glad to be able to speak with you because last year percent was instrumental after a medicare takent of 10 years was out of my measly benefits. That is the Social Security disability. Over 10,000 was taken out and we did recoup 6,600 that was to pay my rent in ithaca. I found a place to live. I had stood up to Michael Bloomberg who was dumping the disabled. In section 50 of us eight and 2009. In 2010 on theed front page of the New York Times. What i would like to ask you to work with us on, particularly People Living with disabilities and myself, a peace corps veteran who saw combat three times after wrongly fired, after digging the grave of a woman who had mastitis. A thousand acres, 300 cows, antibiotics. It was not done and i gave out materials to have children and i was fired. That said, i have not given up. Andal services in ithaca the policies of the county do not recognize me having my section eight, which i finally got in june. I would like everyone to have source of income equality. It is done down in new york city. They passed a law that you cannot discriminate when because of where your income comes from. Motel on the taxpayers dime and have been cut down to food stamps. Host i want to make sure that congressman raid has a chance to respond congressman reed has a chance to respond. Guest i am glad we were able to help you out, that is Mission Number one. We just passed the 10,000th milestone. I tried to keep track track of it. 10,000 families we have been able to help and it sounds like we were able to help you in your situation. On the issues that you are raising, we want to work with everybody and work on the issues that you raise, and making sure that people who are going through a hard time in life where life has drawn them a curveball. I am not one of these individuals on the republican side who says we cannot do anything because the government should not be doing that. There is a role for the government. It has to be reasonable and temporary. One of the things we are losing in this dependency, entitlement type of government philosophy coming out of washington is that it should be based on the individual and not the government. Lets continue to Work Together. Host lets talk a little bit about donald trump who you support, and that may be used as a Campaign Issue for house lawmakers. I have heard several of your colleagues including this report from cnn which says the Nevada Republican said he told cnn he trusts donald trump to have his finger on the Nuclear Button on the24 hour Nuclear Button. Less than 24 hours later that the centerpiece of a major new ad against his candidacy for the hotly contested open senate seat in nevada, the one democratic seat republicans have a reasonable chance of winning this november. Are you worried about trumps effect . Guest i have a lot of confidence. I know joe heck. I put his resume up against anyone in the world. All individual candidates i think or in a great position to win their campaign. What a lot of this is being driven by, this is politics in washington, d. C. This is what they do but i trust the collective wisdom of the American People, of the voter. As the rain had indicated, she is doing the work. She has verified. People are doing the work to become informed, educated, and engaged voters. Next on our Republican Mine is john calling in from southampton, pennsylvania. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Caller it is a pleasure. All i would like it is about half of the pastor. I have a couple of questions. Donald Trumps Campaign ultimately won him the nomination. I am a strong supporter of numbers usa, which is as mainstream and organization, 3 million members. I would request that you would have the president as a future guest. Here is my observation. In the elite press, New York Times, wall street journal, washington, post, on day one i read about how we need more immigration for science, technology, i. T. We do not have the workers. In the same article they will say we need more unskilled workers to do the picking the crops and cleaning the kitchens and whatever. In then the next day same Mainstream Media, they tell us about robots and mechanization and how we are making such dramatic improvements. , they are talking about within 10 years, are going to be eliminated. The truck drivers, a bus drivers. John, you said you had a question for the congressman. What is your question . Caller my question is, pbs, which is publicly funded, and i do not know what percentage of their funds are publicly funded, but it is the most biased. I have never seen this is a new thing in american politics in the Mainstream Media being so onesided, so dishonest, that they do not give even an attempt, they do not pretend to be impartial. And to give both sides and even shocked. The are so biased against republicans and donald trump specifically, it is a disgrace. Firsti just want to note that we have had right back on the show. Beck on the show. Guest i appreciate the sentiment and in my opinion there is a lot of bias by the media. The objectivity, the oldschool journalism, and im not putting kimberly into that pool, we are kind of losing that i think in American Media and i hope it comes back. In this day and age we have to deal with the cards we have been dealt and one of the things we can do to overcome bias is to do the work. When he to make sure we are not relying on soundbites, that people are using the internet as a tool for information. I go back to what doreen said. She is doing the work. We have a very accessible internet, accessible line to information to check and get your own information. Trust and verify is something Ronald Reagan had said. Host we are talking to congressman tom reed from new york, a republican member of the ways and Means Community as well as Human Resources oversight and tax policy. Thehe issue of immigration, piece in todays New York Times talks a little bit about how that issue is also facing some of your colleagues as they seek reelection, pointing to Illinois Republican dole who is a supporter of immigration reform. It says several of the most ardent republican supporters are locked in a fierce election fight, potentially leaving even more conservative party in the house that will be less willing to negotiate on fixing the yougration system. What do think about the immigration fight and are you concerned about its effect on the election . Guest the effect on the election will take care of itself but the real issue, read going to take care of immigration . Of efforts andt conversations on a bipartisan basis to say that we recognize immigration in america has not been reformed in decades. Lets start the conversation and do something about it. What donald trump is doing, i think, is taking the right course in terms of the first issue that needs to be addressed. How are we going to secure our border . He is raising a more fundamental question, do we want a border at all . Sometimes my colleagues on the say, wede of the aisle do not want a border, we are part of this global family. We are all the sons and daughters of immigrants. My father came over as a cabin boy on a steamship from europe and befriended a man who gave him a job. And i now serve in the u. S. House of representatives. That is the american story and our immigration policy has made a strong for decades that we need to secure the border to make sure our citizens are safe, make sure we have a policy that does not harm American Workers and promotes opportunities for everyone. Once you secure the border you can get into the issues of guest visas, temporary health, the different programs out there do utilize different sources of immigration. Host what about the estimated 11 Million Immigrants who are already here . Do you support any legalization for any of them . Guest let me let you in on a secret in washington. Everybody knows we have to deal with those individuals. Everyone knows to roundup 11 Million People and somehow ship them back, that is not going to work. Like i said, i am an optimist but i am also a realist so we have to come up with a solution that deals with that problem. When of the things i put on the table, no citizenship because you violated the rules but maybe the penalty you pay is that you lose your citizenship opportunity. You can be here, you get legal status, and i have talked to a number of Illegal Immigrants who say, i can stay here and visit my family and do not have to go through the horror of being smuggled into the country. And then we will put on the table, their kids who are young and were not part of that decision, they can apply for citizenship. That is the american dream. I have had Illegal Immigrants time and time again say, i would be willing to accept that. If you give me the opportunity to enjoy this country, they would accept that. Host up next on our democrat line we have lee from kent, washington. Morning. I, good a comment and a question. Gay son of loving parents of council bluffs, iowa. They taught me love and accepted me in love because they understood the totality of love in jesus christ. Most republicans do not grasp that. My loving parents did. I do not know how but they did. My question is, and the statement would be i also have a disabled brother who lives in omaha, the brusca. How can you sit there with a smile on your face and smirk and and accept trump and back him when he mocks the disabled question mark think you very much. Guest obviously, i know where your criticism and concern is coming from. Obviously, i do not agree with everything that donald trump has said but im one of the individuals who is working in the campaign in a private way. Comments, those criticisms, and say we need to focus on the American Peoples problems. That type of rhetoric that i oppose and obviously i disagree with what donald trump did in that regard, is not acceptable, and i make that known. We have got to make a choice. We have got to have a choice in this election and when you look at the policies of Hillary Clinton and what she represents, if you look at the opportunity that donald trump represents, i am supporting that opportunity that donald trump is bringing to the table. When it comes to sons and daughters, and i have 11 older brothers and sisters, and i have been taught the same lessons that lee, you have been taught. One of the things i try to bring to this job is when you see wrong, stand up for it. That is one of the things i guess i am differ can just different from other republicans. On the lesbian gay vote i am one on our side who consistently voted for nondiscriminatory policies to protect those individuals. I have also supported the voter rights act. A good friend of mine is john lewis. These are good people i can embrace and say, discrimination is wrong and lets make sure we have policies that respect that. Host donald trump the city to bolster his support among conservatives. He will be speaking at the as pointedr summit out in the washington times. He is headlining the 2016 values voters summit and the Nations Capital today, the first day of the threeday annual conference hosted by the Family Research council. Running mate will address the gathering of faith based voters tomorrow evening. Just a programming note, Donald Trumps remarks will be carried live on cspan at 2 05 on cspan2. You can check those out there. What do you think about this push toward conservatives and do you think that it will possibly alienate other voters . Guest obviously i think this is part of the effort for a continuing outreach to voters across america. This is also something i appreciate about donald trump and his campaign. He is everywhere, he is showing up across the country. He went to mexico. Hillary, i do not see her as much on the campaign trail. I see him engaging in different areas of the country that i so appreciate. When he went to detroit, it is just not talking the talk, it is walking the walk. It is what we do when we have taken our antipoverty issues to take on poverty in a new way for the 21st century. I went to the inner city of rochester with a democratic mayor and walked the streets and said, we need to do something different. Tohave poverty and we need make sure that we are out there and showing up and talking to people. One of the things i was told when i was in innercity rochester and cleveland is, i was why are you here . You are a republican and you do not care. It was eyeopening. It is because we do not show up and i recognize that. That is a criticism we have had for our party. That is why im helping out supporting Michael Faulkner running for mayor for new york city. He is an africanamerican leader in the community and he is a republican. He is a proud republican, and what he says, we need to go where we have not gone before. That is what i think donald trump is doing, continuing to spread the message for a greater and better america for tomorrow. Host on the issue of reaching out to africanamerican voters issue,ld trump, on that what do you think of some of the language that donald trump has used saying that africanamericans have no jobs, if they go outside they will get shot. Do you agree . Guest the rhetoric of donald trump something unique in political history, and i will let him speak for his rhetoric and that type of conversation that he brings to the table. What he is trying to touch into is the problem. This is a problem. We have had this war on poverty for decades and a lot of it has resulted in nothing. We spent 22 trillion on this issue but we have not moved the needle, and who is bearing the heavy load in this failure . Innercity america. Africanamerican populations, minority populations. We cannot continue the status quo. We need to break that cycle. Comments and issues, i appreciate and i appreciate the tone and concern of rhetoric, and i bring that back to the campaign privately because that is how i operate. At the end of the day he is highlighting a problem and highlighting a new way of trying to take on this problem. Host marie calling in from l myra on our independent line. Yra on our elm independent line. Caller i am appalled by your support of donald trump. I grew up in Catholic School and words matter and the way you say things matter. Second of all, you are pretty safe to support him in the 23rd district. You know it is pretty gerrymandered. I put blame on both sides of the aisle sometimes. But in this incident, it is very disappointing that you are supporting him. Second of all, i live in the city of elmyra which has gone completely downhill. When he putquestion two prisons in the small city of whether we could support a prison population setting up ringing drugs, gun violence that we never had in the city and the last couple of years. I have not seen any outreach from you or any other interaction between democrats and republicans to try, except within the city, to try to solve the problems that they are having in the city. Host lets give the congressmen a chance to respond. Guest i appreciate your calling in from the district just down the road from us. I respect your disagreement with us, i truly do, and i understand it. We will continue to have conversations even though we may disagree on that issue, and you may not support is going forward. The bottom line is i represent everyone in the 23rd district and we try to make ourselves accessible and listen to people. I know over the break when we were working the district, we were right there on the park on the river with a group of individuals. We were highlighting programs that were working. It was bringing food to the kids in the park for their summer break that otherwise they were going to lose. For places like the city of el myra, we cannot give up and we can together get it done. Host on our republican line, we have dorothy from emporia, kansas. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have a couple of things i would like to address. I vote for the person, not for the party. Number two, i would like to know, i am 82 and i taken medication. It is handheld symbicort and it 800. Costs over 100 i would like to have the government do something about the high cost of medication. Uest i so appreciate that this is something we are seeing situation, and your the epipen situation is a recent highprofile example of it. The question is, where do we go . Tools, government mandate where the government comes in and says this is going to be the price, or you believe in a marketbased system where you bring individual consumers, individuals into the equation and force the price down through transparency and Holding Accountable the marketplace to make sure it is driving those costs down. That is what im supporting, bring transparency to these transactions. That is why i support going into situation, where did this pricing come from and why did nobody know about it . As government in washington tries to take over health care, you are driving the transparency of these transactions into the bureaucracy. That cannot be allowed. Sure that make sunlight is the best tonic to these issues and make sure we hold everybody accountable. From jefferson city, tennessee on our democrat line. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I would like to preface my question. I was a democrat but after hillary embarrassed and jeopardized our country, i am no longer a democrat. I have been watching for the Republican Party and im very, very happy with what is going on. But my question is about, everyone keeps on saying that the immigration level is 11 Million People. I do not know if they ever but i dooses or not, not feel that there is 11 Million People. If it was a more accurate number to go by, that would be one thing. The one thing i do like about mr. Trumps plan is to get the criminals away, to get the gangs away, to get the drugs away. Im glad to see that you are for mr. Trump. How come everyone keeps on talking about 11 Million People . Why cant the rest of the Republican Party come behind us are trump and the system instead of working against him . Host just a few seconds left. Guest i do believe we are all coalescing because it is becoming clear, it is a binary choice. Hillary represents onepass, donald trump one pass, path, donald trump represents another. ,ost congressman tom reed republican from new york, thank you for joining us. Coming up we will be talking to ,our colleague, Gregory Meeks about the election and congres agenda. Stay tuned. This weekend on American History tv, we look back 15 years to the september 11 terrorist attacks through stories of americans who were at the white house, u. S. Capitol, the pentagon, and in the skies above washington. We will hear from the former chief of the defense protective service, former chief of staff to senator Edward Kennedy and a former aide to Vice President dick cheney. Even before the second plane hit i went down to the Vice President s office to check my guts. I was there when the second plane hit and we knew instantly that this is not an accident. It was some kind of act of terror. On sunday, u. S. Navy rear admiral thomas, tom daschle, gary walters, and major heather panny. The aircraft, flight 93 is not in the near vicinity and able to prosecute an attack at that point in time, so we need to get back and make sure we can play the short goalie game now that we cleared out the airspace. And so when we returned that ddc, that was when things back to d. C. , that was when things began to settle down the his 93 was not there. Later, thevered passengers on that flight were truly heroes. Sunday evening at 6 00 on american artifacts, we will tour the Visitor Center of the flight 93 national memorial, the final resting place of 40 passengers and crew whose actions prevented islamic extremist from crashing their flight into its likely target. A lot about what makes andica a fantastic country, on september 11, 2001, the people that were on board flight 93 were everyday, ordinary people, citizens of the globe even. And it shows that you can make a difference, no matter how big or house all, and no matter where you are at. For our complete American History tv schedule, go to cspan. Work. Cspan. Org. Washington journal continues. Host joining us is congressman gregory meet, a democrat. He is here to talk about the latest developments in the president ial campaign, including outreach to black voters. Let me get to the outreach efforts toward minorities. When i talked, let me pull out a quote you gave to the observer recently about Donald Trumps efforts to reach out to black voters. You say, he has repeatedly shown himself to be a big it who of whiteto the desires extremists. And you know with reference to his birth certificate, his relationship to wipe us supremacists. He has shown the Africanamerican Community has no concern for our wellbeing whatsoever. Clearly you do not mince words. Can you expand upon that . Do you still believe that . Guest how do you judge a person question mark there is primarily two ways, by their actions and deeds. That is all you can do. If you look at the actions and the deeds of mr. Trump, then clearly you see that he has made igotory remarks, he has lied, and therefore he is what i consider a con man and the worst kind of comment, a con man that lies right in front of your face and dares you to check in. And when you do check him, he still lies about it. That has happened over and over in this campaign. I do not know, i generally try to look at the best of individuals but when we are talking about someone to be the next president of the United States, you do have to check out who they are. The only way i know how to do it is by their words and deeds. If you go to his deeds in the very beginning, with the racial discriminatory practices with his father in their business. You look at what he did to the central park five, never adlogizing coming up with an in the local newspaper he paid 85,000 for. It showed they did not commit it and he never said anything like that. The personal remarks he started out with the first africanamerican president of the United States. Inlook at the words he used regard to mexican americans and muslims. How else can you judge him . There is no question in my mind, and then he tries to flipflop. He has been in new york all of his professional career. He has been to a black church one time when he went to detroit and is going to make us think he is reaching out to the Africanamerican Community. That is a con man. Host he says that democrats have taken africanamerican democratsgranted and less,ck voters do make are more prone to live in impoverished places. Do you think democratic policies have failed africanamericans . Guest no. You see things going up and down because if you look at unemployment, it was going down under bill clinton. It went up substantially under george bush. It has gone down some under barack obama. When you think about it, we have to deal better with race and eliminate those disparities but also deal better with reference to poverty in america. At, if you want to inme poverty on democrats predominately africanamerican communities, then you have to blame poverty on republicans in places like appalachia and other areas where there are whites, and there are a large number of whites that are in poverty. Host the Charlotte Observer points out that Hillary Clinton is facing and Enthusiasm Gap among some black voters. It says she has campaigned with president obama at the surely Convention Center but not long after a new report underscored the lack of enthusiasm for her among many young africanamerican voters. What do think she needs to do to convince young voters in particular, young black voters . Guest you see that happening now as we get into september and people are really focusing on it. I think people will hear that as she is moving forward in a debate process, when you talk about and look at what they are proposing to do as president , look at her plans with reference to investing in urban and rural america, creating jobs and opportunities, aching sure that everybody has a role in that. Education for our young folks, i know when she was a senator in new york she was a prime proponent and mover and shaker for Public Education and things like the Eagle Academy for boys to make sure they get what they need. It is an investment into the future. I look at what she has stood for and what she is proposing as the next president of the united dates, and you can see how she can build upon the progress that president obama has made over the last eight years. Host we have a lot of callers waiting to speak to congressman Gregory Meeks. We have earned a from asheville, ohio on our democratic line. Caller good morning. Me, because i am on oxygen 24 7. I have two comment about donald trump. Donald trump says he wants to make America Great. Buildings, built his he goes and gets from mexico green card holders and have them build the buildings. His buildings. The only way you can make America Great is to have American People have good paying jobs. Host lets let the congressman resigned respond. Guest that is Donald Trumps motto, lets make America Great again. What do you mean by that . Because barack obama became the 44th president of the United States . To me, that was an undertone he was utilizing because of that president. You are absolutely right, you judge a person by their action. If you look at his business actions in the past, and people talk about his is his acumen and he has been successful, but you cannot do what he has done as a business person as president of the United States. You cannot file bankruptcy when you are dealing with the budget, as he has done when his businesses fail because he made bad Business Decisions to cause them to fail. Judgment, look at what he has done over the course of his lifetime and his business. Businesses, you can bail him out and give him bankruptcy, that is what he has done. Make America Great again, great again as compared to what . What are. Period saying what are you saying we should go back to . Host lets take a look at a donald trump pack add. Illegal and regrets this immigrants convicted of crimes get to stay. Our border open, it is more of the same but worse. Donald trumps america is secure. Terrorists and dangerous criminals kept out, the border secure, our family safe. I am donald trump donald trump for president. Host what is your reaction . Guest fear is not going to work in this campaign, fax will. Facts will. What Hillary Clinton proposing is comprehensive immigration reform. If you have committed a crime, those people have been deported. We have over 11 Million People who have been lawabiding, paying taxes, looking at a comprehensive way that individuals who can earn their citizenship and there will be a price to pay economically and otherwise, and there are standards that have to be lived up to. Keeping families together. I think he is trying to put fear into this election. Fear is not going to win this election, ideas will. Clinton has the ideas and donald trump has not. In on oure calling independent line from apple valley, california. Caller good morning, congressman, how are you . Guest very good, good morning. Caller people need to understand what donald trump is all about. He has businesses that are overseas, his clothing line is overseas, his daughters clothing line is overseas. The thing i have not heard either candidate say is you cannot bring these jobs back. I do not understand, people are saying, donald trump is saying we are going to bring the jobs back. Most of these manufacturing jobs are not coming back and we have to deal with that reality, but we need to make jobs with our infrastructure. Those are the type of jobs we need here now. We have jobs in india where companies have taken their service part of their company to india. Indonesia, and we as a country have to be realistic about things. We are in a Global Economy and jobs are not coming back so we need to make jobs here. Another comment and then i will get off the line, it has been so many times when things are not going right for the white america, we always blame each individual group. At first it was the irish than the chinese than the blacks now the mexicans. Now it is the blacks again but the mexicans. The people of the United States need to look at our trend and how we say these things when our economy is not going back. Host lets let the congressman respond. Guest we are in a Global Economy and there are different kind of jobs that have to be created that we need to focus on. I think you are exactly right and Hillary Clinton exactly right when she talks about infrastructure, transportation and infrastructure. That creates jobs in america. The same way when we built the highway structure in america and the railway systems. We need new rail systems in the United States. That creates jobs and opportunities. It is important, and that is why Hillary Clintons theme is we are stronger together as a nation when we bring everybody together. White, hispanic, asian, we are all working together, muslim, christian, jew. We are all working together, that is why america is the greatest country it is. We will continue to be the greatest country because we are stronger together. That is her message and that is when i think is what people will rally around, and why she will be the 45th resident of the United States. Host on our republican line we have david calling in from new york. Caller thank you very much. Weeks, heo mr. Mentioned obamas accomplishments. The biggest thing he did was bailout General Motors but his other big accomplishment was, he has got us almost 20 trillion in debt. I would like to know how you propose we get out of that. Secondly, you are supporting Hillary Clinton who he claims she claims she was broke when she left office announced seven and a half years later she is worth over 100 million. I would like to know if you know where that money came from. Guest i will say this first off, i do not know anybody she is married to the former president of the United States and whether we like it or not, when you look at former president s whether it is George H W Bush or george w. Bush, they had quite a good deal of money before they come in but they also make quite a good deal of money when they left. There is nothing strange or different for the clintons than for any other former president of the United States in that regard. The first part of the question . Do you recall, kimberly . Host i am sorry, i have not had enough coffee. Let me ask you about this, we talked a little bit about the Hillary Clinton Enthusiasm Gap among black voters. A new report from the cook report shows that as president Barack Obamas success came largely from black voters, Hillary Clinton is going to need that same margin. How the in a chart africanamerican voter turnout has increased through 2012 whereas white turnout went down. Hillary clinton is going to need that turnout, that Obama Coalition so to speak. Do you think she can get it . Guest yes. As i say, as she gets on this campaign trail and folks start focusing on the issues and asking her what she will do as president , and not just talking about the name calling back and forth, then they will see clearly there is a plan and an agenda that will benefit younger africanamericans, millennials, that she understands what the issues and concerns are. When you talk about criminal justice reform, she is the one person who has been focused on and working with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to make sure we can put forward a strong criminal justice reform. She talks about rebuilding the africanamerican middleclass and investing in our communities. This is a woman that has a plan and a history to show that is the inclination of where she wants to move. That is the type of enthusiasm. I think the Young Millennials will be listening very intently and closely as we move forward. At thell be looking words and deeds of mr. Trump and secretary clinton, and that will drive the enthusiasm that is necessary that she can be elected the 45th president. I will add to that that if you look at the states that historically had always been republican, georgia, for example, the reason why georgia is now in play is because Voter Registration of africanamericans is up in georgia and that can make the difference. North carolina, africanamericans are up. Virginia, if you look at some of these key battleground states, you will see the enthusiasm of young folks and millennial folks are a little bit higher than the general population around the country because that is where the message is really being shown right now. That is going to be significant as we move on, on november 8. Next, colleen from long beach, california on our democratic line. Caller i am visiting my folks in pennsylvania. I am around all my relatives that i grew up with and some of them so many of them are so misinformed because they listen to the right wing conspiracy theories. They think she is responsible for murders. More,k we need to address instead of always focusing on donald on all the stuff that is obvious that do not seem to matter to his can the joints because they are just dead set his constituents because they are just dead set. You tell something over and over again, and i think we need to be in their own deeds and where they get information and dispel it. Hillary should not have to do that all the time. I think the Democratic Party and progressives and republicans that are concerned about what would happen if trump, unstable trump would get in, what would happen to this world . They need to really try to figure out how they can get in and dispel some of these can that my relatives really have. People, mennonite, good but they do not hear this stuff. Guest i agree with you and that is why im here. That is why i think you will see members of congress and other members of goodwell running around the country for the next 50 odd days getting this message out. When you see someone, for example donald trump the other night praising Vladimir Putin and saying basically that he is a stronger leader then president obama, that is unheard of. When you see someone like mr. Trump talking about the generals, he knows more than the generals and the generals are weak in the United States, that is unheard of and all americans need to come together. We are indeed the greatest country that this planet has ever seen and we are great as we have overcome difficulties where we had Racial Discrimination and women not having equal voices and equal protections, and we moved forward and we are still striving to be a more perfect union. We are stronger when we come together and that is what we need to do when we hear anybody trying to depict, especially a strong arm guy like vladimir kgb, greater than our current president . That is absurd. I think what hillary is doing is talking about who she is, where she has come from, and where she wants to take this country. That is the positive message that we need to hear and i think that hillary has been good as we go through the debate season you will be hearing that more and more. Host d think that Race Relations have deteriorated in this country since the time that the president has come into the office or do you agree that it has gotten better . Particularly after the black lives matter Union Movement and the focus on Race Relations. Guest we talk about it more and i think that is a good thing because previously, i know when i have traveled certain places it was taboo to talk about race. I think that what is happening now is we are talking about it more. That is how we really begin to take it to the next step in that is why i think things will get better, because if we keep something under the rug then we never resolve the problem. People will think as they thought that we live in a Postracial America. Those individuals should know by dialogue that we do not. I never thought we would be in a Postracial America even with the election of barack obama. Are we moving in the right direction . Are we better than we were when i was a kid or when my parents were children . Absolutely. . O we got a lot of work to do are there some things that drift back and we have to push back forward . Absolutely. It is good when we can talk and be upfront about it. I think the black lives Matter Movement is a Great Movement that forced the conversation and we need to have that conversation. Host the black lives Matter Movement responded to a leaked memo from the d. C. Cc that urged democrats not to offer concrete policy positions and limit the number of activists they meet with and some other things. In a statement, black lives matter said we are disappointed that they are placating our demand to value all black life. Heard,ives deserve to be not handled. Guest when i was growing up in congress in college i would probably be part of the black lives matter unit movement. I think about how i move around now. , and i think that the memo was basically had to make sure that there is proper communication so if you have a smaller crowd, you have a better way of talking and exchanging ideas that if you have a huge crowd and you were just shouting at one another. Decided asple, have opposed to having large town hall meetings, i found we do not get as much done but when i have smaller meetings, and maybe i have more of those smaller meetings, then we have a better dialogue, better questions back and forth. I am not misunderstood as much, i understand them better, think with that memo was suggesting to members that have the smaller meetings that could be more beneficial than ever, and do not try to take them, they do not want you to take over their movement to tell them what to do. Listen to them, and that is sometimes something we do not do enough. Listen to what they have to say. Host we have roger calling in on our independent line from mckenzie, alabama. Caller mr. Weeks, glad to have you on. I am 60 and i have listened to the democrats for all these years. This is the same story you said four years ago, the same story for years before that, before that, before that, but things have only gotten worse. You cannot say they had. That you cannot say they had not. You cannot say they had not. When you were talking, it changed my story so much. You were talking about georgia and how it is changing. The illegal children are more in georgia schools now than the people who were born in the state. The latinos here have totally destroyed my profession, which is construction, and im going out on Social Security like everybody else because, you complain about trump making his shirts in bangladesh but you make the rules. This is just the world i have to live in. This is the world he has to live in. He cannot make sure its here. Shirts here. Guest trump does have a choice. There are some people, you can manufacture here. Jobscreate jobs and here if you want to. He did not want to. In my lifetime, this country is better. It has become better for all of us. You go around the world, it is still the greatest country on this planet. If you look at our economy, it is still the strongest economy in the world. We have got to continue to strive to be a more perfect union. Helps makety is what us. We have make sure we do secure our borders. No one is saying we should not do that, but comprehensively, we secure our borders and come with an immigration plan that works for all americans, that makes us the greatest country that this planet has ever seen. We will continue to do that and be successful only if we do it together. If we divide ourselves up, and that is what you see in other countries and other places, people divide themselves up by ethnicity or some reason, that is what destroys them. Host on the democratic line we have patrick from carnegie, pennsylvania. Caller congressman meeks needs to get a clue. The first thing that this president should have done as president of the United States is to implement the fairness doctrine in the media. Instead of which, he became the most infamous illusionist with world bank operatives collusion best with world bank operatives in this country. There has never been a greater failure of a president in Race Relations in this country. Look what has happened, he is a disaster as a president. I am a democrat and i voted for this president twice. You need to get a clue and understand and actually provide a mea culpa on the position that this president has represented when it comes to anything positive in this country. He has allowed bankers to get away with the greatest destruction of economic infrastructure in the history of this country. We are literally on the precipice of an economic implosion was sovereign debt of other nations, which this president has articulated and participated in. Host lets let the congressman respond. Guest this president inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression, and economy losing 850,000 jobs a month, an Automobile Industry about to go down the tubes, people losing their homes left and right. This first bill, he passed the ledbetter wall law. That means a woman can get an equal days pay for equal days work. He made sure that over 20 million americans have health insurance. He saved the Auto Industry which we have lost thousands of more jobs. He went back when we had enemies all across the world. We were in three wars and he made sure we mended and started working together with our allies were pulling away from us. Let the facts be clear of what this president has done. He has turned us around from the greatest recession since the Great Depression and made a tremendous difference. Back, therians look credit has to be given to president obama even though he had a Hostile Congress who tried to block him at every step of the way. Gotten more jobs if he were able to pass a transportation infrastructure bill. Host joe from holland, michigan on our Republican Mine. Caller a little bit of a sidetrack to the last caller, you can bet that things are just not better. In response to the Hillary Clintondonald trump, i think we have to ask ourselves who is a builder, who has built anything . Hillary clinton is good at one thing, collecting money, distributing it. If you want to see her and have got enough money you can see her. At the end of the day we need somebody that is going to build something. Buildings get built, things get built, you want people building or do you want to reproduce, gather up everybody elses money and it is not right. Host lets let the congressman does respond. Guest who has donald trump done anything for other than donald trump and his family . The only people he could get to vouch for him with his family because that is all he has ever taken care of. He has never cared about the general population and what donald trump has done, i think a bad business acumen where he has made bad decisions. He has filed several bankruptcies to dale himself out of the bad decisions and protect donald trump. I go by what people have done. Hillary clinton, or whole life has been trying to lift and help somebody. She has been involved in government and sometimes they give you a track record that one wants to criticize. When i look at the time from when she left college and law ofool to be the first lady the state of arkansas and in the United States of america and then a senator, who i worked with very closely, secretary of state, all of it has been trying to help make this country the best country that it is. Her contributions to our country is far superior to the contributions of donald trump who has only come shared about himself because he will not even show his tax returns. You will see he showed cares nothing about a charity or anything else. Host sarah calling in from vernon, new york on our independent line. Caller good morning. Thank you to cspan. This is for mr. Me. Meeks. I seem to remember a bill that was passed bipartisan in the senate about immigration and was never brought up in the house. Why andasked people iny said they disagreed with certain parts and i said why didnt you just sent that back to committee . Yout i couldnt agree with more. That was the bill on we had the getting of a on the senate side, a bipartisan matter. It dealt with comprehensive immigration reform. It was a bill i probably would have voted for it or we had a vote on the house. Unfortunately, what had been taking place on the house side, we cant even vote on bills. That is one of the issues we would like to deal with now. We would like to vote. We cant even get a vote on zika. Issues and health concerns, we cannot even get a vote on that. Nofly,get a vote on. O by i dont think the American People want that. I would hope that we get to the point that the house would put so many bills on the floor and let us have a vote up or down so the American People know where we stand. Men gregoryss meeks. , congress has only three weeks to get things down before it leaves again. What do you think they should focus on . We will get to your calls only get back. Author and columnist David Johnston discusses his book, the making of donald trump. I met him. I immediately recognize that he is pt barnum. He is take selling you tickets. Because he was the dominant force i started asking about him and his competitors, including steve when and people who work for him and some big gamblers all set to me that donald doesnt know anything about the casino business. On cspans q a. For campaign 2016, cspan continues on the road to the white house. A president for democrats, republicans and independents. To win withing education, with the second amendment. Live coverage of the president ial and Vice President ial debates. Monday, september 26 is the first president ial debate live from Hofstra University in new york. On tuesday, october 4, governor mike pence and senator tim kaine debate at longwood in a verse the in virginia. On sunday october 9 Washington University in st. Louis hope has the third debate. Takes place at the university of nevada on november october 13. Listen live on the free cspan radio at. Watch live or anytime ondemand at cspan. Org. Washington journal continues. Host while we wait for your calls to comment on what congress should be focusing on we are joined by the staff writer for the hill to talk about the meeting today to talk about the government funding strategy. Good morning. Guest good morning. Host tell us about this meeting. What will House Republicans be focusing on . Guest this is the first time that House Republicans are having a meeting dedicated on what to do about the spending bill. Has are the indicated it is moving forward with attempts to compromise with democrats. Get out of town so they can go back to barnstorming their neighborhoods. The House Republicans are the ones have said they are not happy with the plan to have the Government Spending bill go into december. We will find out today how much influence their planning to have and whether they will be trying to stop this do with the senate is working on, and whether they will be picking a fight over the senate leadership. How about the caucus . What is their role . They do not have to see the governments stop gap spending bill go through. They dont want to see it go through march of next year. They are hoping that donald trump will be in the white house since then. They are hoping tuning go shoot a better deal than the one the president ial the president has done. There will have to be compromises made by democrats. They dont want to do that. They want to coincide with the bigger spending fight over raising the debt ceiling. They are hoping they will have leverage then. S is not the opinion who that is held by the house Republican Leadership. Hat they want to get home before the elections. Host another measure that lawmakers are focused on is this the good bill. Ryan dismiss concerns that the gop funding bill to fight zika is intentionally targets planned parenthood even if his own members of his own party calls for the controversial language to be removed. Guest the House Republicans are playing hardball on this zika issue. Throughout the summer and over the last several months Republican Leadership in the senate have indicated they are willing to drop these contributions controversial poison pills in the zika spending bill that target planned parenthood, that target obamacare, that happened Confederate Flag in it. Members of the house and says not they this is are not trying to prevent democrats from voting for it. This is a stalemate that has been going on for months and months and even House Republicans in florida, especially those were facing tight elections say they are very worried about the zika virus. They wants become a to say that they will drop any of these partisan positions and want to pass a clean zika spending bill so there is no concern that it wont pass. They wanted to get out the door as soon as possible. Speaker ryan said he is not ready to give up the fight. To say thatady republicans will lose. If they do then democrats might have an edge going into the election. We did not hear an indication of willing to a piece of democrats on this. Host thank you rejoining us this morning. We are hearing from our callers on what congress should be focused on for the last couple of weeks. Gerald is calling it on the democratic line from alabama. Caller i think they should focus on hillary had said so many times that nothing was net classified were secured. Abedin was the one that declassified all of this. Why not charge her and her staff . Host the house has done a lot of investigations into secretary clintons emails and didnt come to any definite conclusion. Do you think that wasnt enough . Caller no, i think charges should be brought for declassified in it. It was taken off by her staff. Why not charge her staff . Host Carl Stalling in from sebastian, florida on the republican line. Caller good morning. The biggest thing congress should be focusing on the blacks always favor hillary, but why is planned parenthood always black community where they can get rid of black babies . Another thing, everybody thought hillary was bad killing 10 million jews. Does the United States ever that we have slaughtered over 60 million babies in this country through abortion . Godcreator is not a happy and we will pay for it. I have heard no one answer to this. All they do is talk politics. This is the entire human race we are talking about. Host up next we have jose calling in from rogers, arkansas on the independent line. Thank you for taking my call. Votershat do you think the members of congress should focus on for the next few week before they break . Caller i am a mexican american. I became a citizen not long ago. I want to tell the congress that dont allow corruption at any level. That was the reason that mexico is a mess. I try to talk to mr. Meeks and i supporting super [inaudible] want to congress to continue to disrespect American People. Be honest with the American People. I am proud to be an american now. Trump i mr. Support his ideas for everybody to be safe in this country. Ask you this. How would you like to see him change the immigration system, what is it about the immigration plan that you like . Caller i would like to secure the borders. That would be nice, to secure the borders, to protect the borders. I know everybody who crosses the border can do good in this country. We have to take care of that. We have to be honest with the people who is working with a criminal record. It took me on all 16 years you have to love this country. You have to be grateful to this country. We be proud. Mostly i want to say tell the congress that we are not naive to believe all this partisan things. If clinton made a mistake, doesnt matter who it is. Calling on the from ohio on the democratic line. I have a daughter whos 31. I live in a small town. I dont know who will be president the one thing nation focuses people should be paying for lyme disease. With this die disease. It is pretty serious. Tick. Hit by a deer sevenghter has to go hours away for treatment every four months. If you get seen in ohio it is 2000 to be seen. If you get seen in tennessee it is 300 because it is more affordable. I work two jobs. One thing i think congress should do is recognizes disease. Zika. Just as bad as , and you donten get to the hospital and 24 hours and it gets in your blood like it did my daughter, it is a chronic disease that you can die from. There tick carries a really deadly blood disease. It shuts down the organs. The doctors are trying to fight the steves are getting disease is getting shut down. In fromrry calling hillman, michigan on the republican line. What do you think lawmakers should focus on these next couple of weeks . Caller i would like to see speaker ryan make donald trump releases taxes. Let us see what is in them. Is there a controversy in them or if there is not a controversy. Let us see them and eliminate that outlook. Sam fromnext wilmington, north carolina, on the independent line. What should be the focus of congress in the next few weeks . Caller thank you for cspan. Right now i think the biggest thing is the zika virus. We need to get a clean bill through. , to the American Public because its not like it is going to be contained in florida. It is going to permeate the country. Do the spraying that they they said that it needs to be a waterby house thing that is not just sitting to help spawn more mosquitoes. I am very concerned about school loans. I have twin daughters that have school loans, i have a school loan and i am retired. There are 41 years between us, but i just graduated in 2012. They graduated in 2011. The loans are astronomical. Host how much debt for you . Caller 20,000. I did it over a fiveyear. Working fulltime. 45 minutes away from my home. It wasnt easy. If i could just say one thing to people. The best thing i got out of my College Degree was understanding of ch and understanding reeses deskbut recent empirical information, so that you know it is true and not some supposition or opinion or slanted with poor numbers. Host ok. We have a lot of callers timing and talking about what congress should focus on. Sharon, north carolina. Good morning. Good morning. I want to comment on the lady that spoke about Student Loans. If the government had not gotten ,nvolved in the Student Loans ever the everything without have skyrocketed with these colleges. These colleges think they can get money from a government, they will go up on everything. I think that when the government stepped in and started giving all these loans, it left the middle class, the ones that can afford it, it left us out in the middle again. The landhe zika versus parenthood, our country is in a mess. Is reason we are in a mess because of the gentleman who called in saying we had 60 million babies that has been wade,d since roe versus it is more like 70 million. Not going to shine on a country that aborts all those babies. Thelady that started it, black people up to check into the ones that started it. She wanted to get rid of the black babies. I was the blacks would check into that and see the real reason. I am not saying that all lives are being aborted, whites are too. No wonder god is not newburgh, maryland on our democratic line. What do you think that congress should focus on in these last few weeks before the adjourned again . Caller thank you for taking my call. Country has in this completely reversed the democrat and Republican Party. Host what do you mean . Now, they you look have no responsibility for themselves. To take action on anything other which supports one particular interest. To describe this, any amount of republicanemocrat or party runs office will focus on directing away from whatever that agenda is. Nowappens almost regularly by the terms that they are in office. So the country never gets forward, it always reverts back to the record running through each system, which is probably part of human nature. Host one of the issues that lawmakers continue to face in these few weeks leading up to the election is the nomination of the Supreme Court justice to. Eplace Antonin Scalia joe biden spoke at the capital urging lawmakers to move on that stalledon, which is now 475 days. Senate republicans continue to say they will not put that nomination forward and instead will leave that for the next president. That is in todays Washington Post. That is facing congress and their last remaining weeks before the next break. Up next, judy from rod rochester caller . Good morning and thank you for cspan. I feel when they are trying to put a bill through congress there should be nothing at into the bill like the zika virus. It should only be money for that. Parenthood,planned nothing to do with anything else, strictly that. That way you can keep that bills cost down and it will go strictly to that. There are a number of bills that planned parenthood is are the in. Radio or tv stations, they dont tell you there is money in there for planned parenthood. Strictly do a bill that pertains to only that subject and nothing else. Vermont next chester, on the independent line. What do you think congress should focus on these last few weeks . Meler thank you for giving the chance to talk. I do appreciate. I am very proud Basque Country has free speech. That this country has free speech. Number one new york city media appeared number two, they talked from. All of them not only heard heard i never them talk about indian americans. They talk about all others but not india. What we are talking about congress should be doing in the last few weeks. Do you have a point on that . Say donald trump works are, i am not voting for , why theillary judgment in Foreign Policy . She cannot handle that. Rina, from philadelphia on the democratic line. What would you like to see congress focus on for the next few weeks . Caller i would like to know why they have the power i know they have the power to demand donald trump would get his taxes reveal before the election. He keeps saying he will do after the election. Thats not fair. Everybody else does it before the election. That are supporting we, to hear all these things hear about, hillary or anybody else. Congress cannot force donald trump or anybody to release her tax returns. Whate time they have left should congress be focusing on . Zika virus . Caller immigration. And justput through like president obama has it. That is what i would like to see done. But i havein cuba been here on american citizen for 50 years. Maybe they should concentrate on that and get it over with. It fromrold calling elkhorn, wisconsin on the democratic line. What would you like to see Congress Focusing on a nymex couple of weeks before the recess again . Caller i would hope that they also, the info only party i have seen that help the American People has been the Democratic Party. Republican party has been the party of no, and most politicians that we have an office are only in it for themselves. See what would july to them full on that would help the American People . Caller i would like to see them and help the people who are being infected by mosquitoes. I would also like to see them reform part b for prescription allow the does not government to negotiate with drug companies. You see the drug prices skyrocket. Themselves. Ping robert from ashland, kentucky on our independent line. What should congress focus on in the last few weeks. Caller i think they are to be focused on like funding the zika virus the Supreme Court things that just could get taken care of in the three or four last weeks. One of the things is funding the government. This month they are looking at possibly a shortterm measure to put the debate off. Host i think the shortterm funding of the government is a joke. If we cant fund our government to pay our bills for a year and a time then we need to have a whole new government. Bill is calling in from marietta, georgia on the democratic line. I would like to see congress not do anything for the next three weeks. Dont get paid and just go home. The government should be able to run well, they have been doing it without them. Thanks, good to see. Frank, callings in from beverly, new jersey on the republican line. What do you think congress of to focus on and next few weeks . Caller the morning. What i think they should do is they should take a good hard look at how much corruption is going on up there in washington and in the house. If you have been following any unbelievable it is , especially with hillary, what she got away with. If it were me are you that would have done this we would be in prison. The corruption has to be cleaned up first before they can get confidence back in our government. It seems like they go up there with their own dating for themselves and the American People dont mean anything anymore. Have a nice day. Shays calling in from wisconsin on the independent line. We are almost out of time. What would you like to see congress focus on . Kathy calling it from north carolina. We just have a couple of seconds. What would you like to see congress focus on . Caller i would like to see them ands more on the poverty the steps going on with the put the policeman killings. The we have to throw it to house. Live coverage of the house which is gaveling in right now on cspan. Thanksr giving us oter day on daye a ur lessingthe men an women of thees hsehoave gr naons people. T care of becausef e great bessings you haveestowed unit touild a bter world eyon oboers as anoer election aroaches, mbers undandabl focused otheir