And they are carrying out attacks in other places. Fortunately, there were not Many Americans in the mall at the time, but it shows that a group like alshabaab, and there are other al qaeda affiliates and other places, are still intent on carrying out terrorist attacks. That is what we happen to call a soft target was not well defended. Our embassies around the world, as well as our country at home, remain at risk of attack. If there were to be an attack later on, whether it is on the scale of 9 11 or something much less, the American People would then be saying why didnt you do anything and everything you could to keep the country safe . Host Twentynine Palms in california tammy, you are on with john bellinger. Caller good morning could i want to say thank you to the National Security for all the work that they do. My husband works for the department of defense, and i realize how important National Security is. It does keep us out of war. I hear people say that we need to get out of war and all the stuff but National Security is a big part of that. I want to know why there is not program set up for the National Security, an Important Agency like the department of defense and things like that, so that when there is a shutdown of the government, those agencies still continue to be able to do their jobs and take care of the business of the security of the nation. Host before you go, was her husband furloughed . Caller yes. He went back on monday because they determined that his job was absolutely imperative an important. My husband works with the readiness and training programs, and he prepares all the weapons. Host john bellinger, if you want to talk about the planning for the shutdown. Guest tammy, thanks for your call. As somebody who spent much of my career in the government handling National Security issues, i hope that the families of those employees in all of these different agencies will in fact make their views known. I know it causes a terrible impact on them personally. If they are declared nonessential, that hurts morale, and even if they come back and are not being paid, and i suspect it is not clear to you or your husband whether you will be paid on time, we have hundreds of thousands of workers in these agencies who are keeping the rest of the country safe, performing vital services. Perhaps there are others in other parts of the country who are not fully aware of the sacrifices and the work that is being done by the intelligence and defense professionals all across the country. Just to give one example, the fbi, which we value as an Important Agency on the frontline of detecting terrorist threats, is unable to train new agents. They have virtually shut down their Training Academy at quantico. Just this past week they brought in Law Enforcement professionals from other countries to train them. Those people are ready to train at the fbi in quantico and they have been sent back. They were brought to washington and economy was closed down, and those people left and sent home. Host with 350 employees at the department of defense being furloughed, and the 350,000 being furloughed and then call back, and the cia calling back a lot of employees this week, could agencies have been better at planning for the shutdown . Guest i have talked to people in these agencies the leaders of these agencies expected the shutdown was going to be a few days, and as with a holiday period over christmas, the agencies can get by for a few days, but as they began to realize the secretary of defense the shutdown could go on for weeks, this is causing serious damage to our National Security, putting the country at risk. Bringing back almost all of those employees and whether they will get paid later on or when they will get paid is another issue. But i think the heads of these agencies just cant get by having so many people furloughed, so they just brought them back in and made the decision that we are going to declare them to be essential whether they get paid or not. Host rachel is up next from texas on our line for independents. Caller yes, in the constitution, article one, section six, we are to pay wages of representatives im sorry, im nervous we pay their wages. It has nothing in there about us paying for the insurance. Ok . How many representatives are taking the free Government Insurance that we pay for or are they paying out of their own dam pockets . Host members of congress . Caller yes, we pay for their insurance. And then to take checks away from young men that died out there they are heartless people we have in government. They are tied to companies. They dont give a damn about us. They are looking out for the Insurance Companies and the pharmaceutical companies and who puts money in their pockets for their campaigns. Host rachel from texas. Chris from new jersey on our line for republicans. Good morning. Caller hi, good morning. Im calling because im very curious to know, mr. Bellinger, you stated that you were you participated during the 9 11, i keep mentioning the word terrorist. With the state of the country is in, you see the emotion of the last caller, i think a lot of americans feel that emotion. I think a lot of us are at this point why do you continue to say the word terrorist . Why do you continue to allow subjects and conversations when we need to be productive, like the last caller just said . People have died, our soldiers have died. Coming home, and we have nothing to give them. Yet money is being directed to other things. Why cant the people that have the ability to make these decisions keep in mind that these are peoples lives . Please do not continue to say the word terrorist. Guest im not quite sure what you mean about whether whether you are questioning whether terrorism actually still exists. Certainly i think that all of our nations leaders, on the republican or democratic side, recognize that the country remains under threat of attack from members of al qaeda or affiliated groups, just as we were attacked on 9 11, that our embassies were attacked in africa, and that there remains a very serious threat of terrorism. Theres nothing else to call it. These are extremists from different groups, either al qaeda itself or affiliates of al qaeda in different countries. They dislike the United States and want to attack us and kill our people, whether it is here in the United States or around the world. It is certainly unfortunate when i began to serve in the white house in february 2001, we were a country that seem to be at peace. After 9 11, we realized we were being attacked all around the world. We have done over the last 12 years between two administrations a tremendous amount to try to decimate the leadership of al qaeda. We hope that we can say that that threat is over. I am not aware of anybody suggests that there doesnt remain a threat from terrorism here and abroad. Sadly. On the next washington journal, the latest on the government shutdown. Will stay with representative Leonard Lance from new jersey. Well be joined by California Democratic representative george miller. Washington journal is live on cspan every day at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Councilsily Research Values voter summit begins this morning. You can see that live on cspan3 at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. Treasury secretary jack lew says that if the debt ceiling is reached, there is no way for the government to pick and choose which financial obligations to pay. He also says the government it difficultmade to predict how much revenue the government will have to pay for things like Social Security and interest on the debt. This is a little less than two hours. I call this hearing to order. On january 20 7, 1838, the young state legislator Abraham Lincoln spoke in springfield, illinois. America was a divided nation. He warned that the greatest threats to the young democracy or internal. Ever reachesanger us, it must spring from amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. We must live through all time or die by suicide. The actions of the past few a smallhe extremism of core of members in the house have crippled the nation. For more than 200 years, the u. S. Has been true to its word and honored its obligations from a paid its debts. Today, a strip a small group of hardliners is using our economy as a bargaining chip to repeal the Affordable Care act. We are not going to let that happen. The Affordable Care act is not going to be dismantled in this budget fight. The issue is not up for debate. Committee wrote the Affordable Care act. I am always open to this committee working together to strengthen the law to better serve the American People. Said, we cannot negotiate under the threat of default on the nations bills. Before any debate, any deliberation, we need to reopen the government and pay the nation bills, no strings attached. Then, we need to Work Together, return to regular order, address the nations longterm budget challenges, including entitlement and tax reform. Now, we need to prevent another selfinflicted wound to the economy. That is what he faulting on the debt is, a selfinflicted wound with global consequences. Deadline is fast approaching. In seven days, the u. S. Treasury will have exhausted all extraordinary measures to stay under the debt limit. The u. S. Will be at the risk of defaulting on payments. The United States, the richest, most powerful nation in the world, will be forced to look for loose change in hte in the sofa to pay bills. While the shutdown has been disruptive, a default would be a financial heart attack. It would have widespread, long Term Economic consequent is. The National Markets are already showing stress. The dow has dropped 800 points in last three weeks. One month Treasury Bill rate has risen to its highest level since the 2008 fiscal crisis. If the debt ceiling is reached, the government would have to slash federal spending by 20 to 30 , driving the nation back into recession. The paint would be felt across every sector of society. Medicare,urity, funding for highways, every Government Program would be devastated by cuts. Families would feel it firsthand, with dramatic problems to retirement savings, jobs would be lost, home values would plunge, Interest Rates on mortgages and Student Loans would soar. Some have said we cant avoid default by prioritizing payments. Default. Avoid this would force treasury to pick and choose which programs forcing vital programs like Social Security, medicare, to compete for funding. This idea is irrational. A default would have a catastrophic impact on the Global Economy, as well. President of the world bank warned that the default would have consequence is for the world economy. Christine lagarde, imaging director of the imf, said it is Mission Critical to resolve the debt limit as soon as possible. This is serious. The whole world is watching. Our actions here in the next couple of days will have global applications. Implications. We are the most important economy in the world. The dollar is the worlds reserve currency. Our Treasury Bonds are the backbone of International Financial system. A default look at the Global Economy in chaos. Of that, there is no doubt. Last week, the treasury warned us that a default would cause a recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse. Have people forgotten what happened in 2008 . The collapse of Lehman Brothers set off a financial earthquake. Markets plunged, on a planet surged, unemployment market confidence was shattered. It upended lives across the country, the aftermath can still be felt today. We cannot let that happen. We have a responsibility to avoid another economic disaster. Our leadership, our resolve, will be tested in the next couple days. Havef us in this room, we an opportunity to pull america back from the brink. I introducedweek, a bill with leader reid that would get us past the stalemate. It extends the nations Borrowing Authority to the end of 2014, past midterm elections. It is a clean increase without amendments, allowing the u. S. To pay its bills and avoiding the district the default. This short Term Solution will pull us back from the edge and allow us to posit take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. I have been in the senate for close to 35 years, and congress, going on 39. I have seen partisan fights. But never in my mind have i seen washington so angry, so gridlock, so broken. It does not have to be that way. I know the public might find it hard to believe, but there are some reasonable people in congress. There are many who want to do what is right. There are many who want to Work Together to conduct the business of our nation. I say to them, all my colleagues, now is the time. Now is the time for congress to old battles. Ng now is the time to come together and do what is right for our nation. Now is the time to come together and reopen the government and fiscal americas financial locations. Fulfill americas financial loo obligations. Lincoln once said i am a Firm Believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. That is why we are here today. We need to give the American People the truth. Only then, when everyone understands the real crisis at hand, the facts and the truth, we will be able to meet the crisis. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for holding todays hearing on the debt limit. I went to welcome you, secretary lou, we appreciate your time. Secretary lew. During debate over the debt thenng increase in 2006, senator obama stated that the fact that we are here today is a sign of leadership failure. Leadership, he said means that the buck stops here. Instead, washington is shifting of ourden onto the backs children. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. Day, our lew, on that gross debt was 8. 3 trillion. It is now more than twice that, 16. 7 trillion. That represents 107 of the size of our economy. As the Congressional Budget Office has made clear, this poses a large economic and fiscal risk. 2006 debate,ame then senator biden said why vote against the debt limit increase, you cannot change the fact that we have incurred this debt already and will no doubt incur more. It is a statement that i refuse to be associated with, the policies have brought us to this point. What a difference in attitude there has been. Obama and Vice President biden preside over an administration that tells us that raising the debt limit, in secretary little, allows us to pay our bills. Lew you have stated that only congress has the ability to increase if the president does not agree. Despite your public statements to the contrary, it is not true that raising the debt limit has only to do with spending congress has already approved. This argument is based on a makese that Congress Spending decisions unilaterally and that the executive branch plays no role in the process. That is sadly false. No amount of spending can be enacted without the president signing it into law. Budgets have not been well received, even by democrats, he has traditionally been deeply involved in Congress Efforts to set spending priorities. The administration also issued statements of Administration Policies and veto threats on spending bills and other pieces of legislation. Workresident president s with congress all the time to enact agendas. We remember how president obama unveiled and pushed his trillion dollar stimulus through a democratic congress. President hashis made unilateral decisions with no input from congress that have had an impact on federal spending. For example, the decision to delay the employer mandate under obamacare with which cbo tells us will cost an additional 12 billion to our deficit. Congress never voted on the delay. It was a unilateral choice made at the treasury department. Thatort, the notion questions surrounding spending is congress to answer, that a case of false advertising on the part of the Obama Administration. Instances been other of false advertising concerning the debt limit. One is the president s claim that nonbudget items have never before been attached to the debt limit. A claim to which a fact checker at the Washington Post assigned for pinocchios. The 53 debt limit increase is passed since 1978, under both republican and only 26ic president s, were clean. , for the first time in recent history, people were commenting on the inability of treasury to make timely payments. If you go back to president Clintons Administration and rate some press conference is thenthen checkers treasury secretary rubin, this is also false. I asked permission to enter a press conference that supports this position, along with an associated article from the new york times. I ho