Federal judge rules this week that the National SecurityAgency Program that collect the records of millions of americans of phone calls is lawful. Says it does not violate americas privacy rights. It is december 28, the morning and welcome to washington journal. Our topic to kick things off is the end of that extended Unemployment Benefits. Will Congress Renew them when lawmakers return in january . We want to hear from you. For republicans, the number is 2025853881. 5853880. Rats, 202 you can also find us online a on twitter find us online on twitter, cspanwj. And email, were at journal c span. Org. The morning look at headlines. First from the front page of this mornings new york times. The headline the story also making a big in this mornings Washington Post a big slash in this morning post. Igntongton longterm unemployment is the highest since world war ii. There are 4 Million People who have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. Joining us to talk about that is the hill is a reporter from the hill. Down for us, how do we get to the end of the benefits. What gets us to the brink the echo the brink . Every pretty probably remember the fiscal cliff bill from the holidays of last year. Who had been out of work for at least six months or more had gotten a nut or extension to the end of this year. Congress needed to go ahead and. Eauthorize this program advocates want another year and they fail to do it before they left for the holidays. A report states that senator jack reed of rhode island announced thursday he he willounce its reduce a threemonth extension. And that she will introduce a threemonth extension. He will introduce a three month extension. With he is backing it up senator reid. We havent heard much from any republicans outside of a couple who said they oppose it. Say theybeginning to want to have these benefits paid for. Theyre costing about 26 billion per year. They are ok with the dam as long as the cost is covered. Speaker john boehner said before the holidays that he would consider a plan from the white house from democrats but never saw one that he thought would be he a strong extension said before hand he did not see anything he put before the house. He will have to see if they can get a shortterm extension done with the get back. The number we are hearing is 1. 3 billion 1. 3 million, the people of the number of people who will lose benefits today. Guest people end up going into that long that longterm area. Most states do provide 26 weeks of benefits. Most states have cut that down to 19 weeks. People who were out of work for six months certainly could have trouble still finding jobs into the new year. It could be up to in other two or 3 Million People next year. Granted we are seeing some are improvements in the labor market. We are seeing some people who are losing their jobs now are getting back to the job market a little back a little faster. There is certainly a cycle that has not changed at all during the downturn and the subsequent recovery that people who have been out of work longterm are struggling to find jobs. That is 37 of the unemployed. Level,s maintained that somewhere between 37 and 40 for the past few years. It is definitely a tough hurdle for these folks to scale. We keep hearing this talk about just how crowded the legislative calendar is for lawmakers when they return in january. How likely is it that extending these benefits even temporarily will be a priority of lawmakers. Harry reid said it is his first order of business when they return, which is why we are seeing a lot of activity over the holidays. They kind of set this up for when they return in about a week and a half. Whether we see enough support for it that is another story. They would like the benefits to be retroactive. People will not have to go without this lifetime this lifeline for longer than a week or two. Are you hearing from president obama . What has he said on this issue . Guest he is a firm backer. Hawaii andcation in did phone senator heller and senator jack reed, who were kind of leading the charge on this bill, and talked to them about important how important he thinks it is. They are backing this three months authorization to get the ball rolling a little bit in hopes of being able to talk about this issue a little bit more, maybe talk about how to offset the cost of it. It will cost about 6 billion for three months. Certainly a major push happening right now. Host thank you so much for joining us. To talk about this debate over Unemployment Benefits, the liberal Group Americans united for change put out an ad tying this aggression will to these benefits. [video clip] republicans in congress made sure of that, but getting billions in taxpayer giveaways. Stripped 1. 3 million americans of jobless benefits to the folks who want work but cannot find a job. To the 1. 3 million americans losing benefits, merry christmas. Of it is wrong to leave more than a million americans behind. Restore Unemployment Benefits now. Americans is from united for change. Baltimore sun he other stories making the news, the holidays may be over but that does not mean that targets are over. It calls for a full investigation into the retailers beatty breach. A little read up on your Holiday Shopping weekend. At dial in you can email us at journal c span. Org. Our first call comes from chattanooga, tennessee. John is on the line for democrats. Caller how are you doing . I am all in favor of getting these benefits out there. What peopleemember are having these problems in the first place, and that is because of wall street a couple of years wrecking the economy. Now that republicans who are up wall street are trying to filibuster people from getting benefits and the families, it is not right, it is not moral. I asked my senator to stop this filibuster just to get people basic benefits. Once he gets money in the economy people can buy food and help their families. Of course all the republican they should be in favor of necessities for people who are out of work through no fault of their own. Our guest earlier mentioned president obamas rollout. A tweet Senate Lawmakers are proposing that temporary extension expected to hit the senate next year. Our next call is from alabama on our line for independents. Caller thank you for cspan. As i woke up this morning i had been in pretty good holiday spirits until yesterday. When i think about this economy , 15 and the billions billion have been taken out of our economy. Is this a classic example of what bipartisanship is . Republicans and democrats got together and the president will not supported on two occasions. [indiscernible] now theyre trying to close the door. I am totally disturbed this morning of this bipartisanship read that is why i am an independent. Both of these people it is a shame so Many Americans have to be under the gun. Another tweet. Our next call comes from jenny in lancaster ohio on our line for republicans. How are you today . I just wanted to say i would think 16 months is quite a long time to get unemployment. Wouldnt you think . Did you have a further, you havecaller did a further comment . Caller we just cant keep spending money. I was put on unemployment for five years. They should be critical for what they have and move on. A couple comments on facebook. Seat wendy writes those comments from our Facebook Page this morning. Our next call comes from enver, colorado. Greg is on the line for democrats. The wayif we look at the budget is set up, if we take money out of the subsidies we give corporations we could fund enough money to help people. When they show up for work in 2010 they said they were going to do a jobs bill. We are in 23rd team. In 2013. I dont think how they can blame democrats when republicans it is three years after they won the election and they havent done nothing about jobs. John boehner spoke out about extending these Unemployment Benefits. Lets listen to what he had to say. [video clip] worked all year to get our economy will working again. When the white house called me last friday about extending Unemployment Benefits, i said that we would clearly consider it as long as it is paid for and as long as there are other efforts will help get our economy moving once again. I have not seen a plan that meets those standards. I was john boehner. Next in maryland, georges on our line for independents. I was unemployed when i was 61. I have several college degrees. The people who have unemployment in this economic downturn are in a rough spot. What i seen wall street is they are buying back shares. They are making record profits for corporate american. It is just a shame. I dont look to congress to be able to sell it. I wish everybody a happy holidays. Our next call is ken in cincinnati, ohio. Host a radio show here in cincinnati. I think it is a shame that the democrats are trying to reap trying to blame the republicans for this. To sign this tried into law. Both parties signed up on this. It is just a shame. Do you have folks a call into talk about this issue, what do they say to you . Www. C a lotrg a lot caller of people believe the republicans are at fault. The democrats are just as bad if not worse. The republicans are doing a terrible job by allowing the democrats to brand them as the mean guy when they are just as bad on this issue and just as guilty. Do you think lawmakers should extend the of Employment Benefits . Caller i think they will and i think you will have another fight with raising the minimum wage. The employer should be given a choice to either pay the regular taxes or a flat tax. Anybody who wants to take away what they perceive to be the rich, it is just classic warfare. I think that is one of the thing that is problematic with our country right now. Also making headlines in the Washington Post our topic this morning, 1. 3 Million People to lose Unemployment Benefits today. Our next colors and a in lakewood florida. Thank you for taking my call. I am in consensus with everyone who says unemployment should be cut. The more you give the more dependent we become. It is human nature to take, take, and take. Everybody needs to make an effort and go out there and to a days hard work. Why should the government give you anything . Supposednment is not to support us. We are supposed to go out and and work. Go pick strawberries, do something. Too many of us are too proud to take any job that is under what we consider unfit. Backed to take a step and do what our parents and greatgrandparents did. Dont take money. A couple of tweets coming in. You can find us on twitter. Brian jarvis tweets mike is on the line in alabama on our line for independents. From what i have experienced i have a brother and exwife who have been under an unemployment extension for two years. As far as jobs, i have also some of them are jobs, more for lesser whether you have a career or not. Our next call comes from los angeles. I know three people who have been on unemployment for four years. I talked to one guy, and theyre open and honest about it. If they get a job that pays 800 per week, they will take it. He has been doing this gag now for years. Ageist gets to the point that when you are collecting money and not doing anything, you are living off of other people talk other peoples work. I personally like the word slavery. It is just wrong. After six months get a job. And life is tough sometimes. Host an email. If you would like to shoot us an email, we are at journal c span. Org. Next up is lower on the line for democrats. That is lara on the line for democrats ash next up is a lara on the line for democrats 0 next up is laura on our line for democrats. Caller are you going to get back into the streets like when bush was in office and we lost everything . We are going backwards. Rybody should be looked at how they are living, how they should pay. They dont want to see these kids eat . Come on. Have a heart out there. Cut everybody off unemployment and see how me jobs are lost. I pay my taxes every year. If i want my taxes to go to the poor and the people that dont have jobs, that is my prerogative. Percent of this country has taken advantage of us and the republicans are given the tax loopholes and they are getting them right off of that they are getting off private jets. I wish i had a private jet. With just despicable republicans are doing to this country. Host a final report on sandy hook. Authorities and consent and connecticut released a final report our next call comes from kingsport tennessee. Millie is on our line for independents. Caller good morning. Five years of unemployment is enough. Some people need to step down the ladder a little bit and stop trying to use of government money. Thank you. Host james on the line for republicans. We have so may people coming to america from other countries that they are taken all the lowlevel jobs. I got a step daughter in college and usually college kids can get a job working mcdonalds or landscaping in the summer. There are some and foreign people working at the lowlevel that there is not enough jobs so many form people working a lowlevel jobs that there is not enough jobs to go around. We need to look at everything about this immigration and unemployment. There is not enough lowlevel jobs for all the americans. The 50yearold housewife that is trying to help her husband, she cannot find a small job. Siteo to a construction and it is all mexicans. The sandy hook bill, we need to put god back in schools. One point 3 million to lose Unemployment Benefits today. A tweet bill king tweets steve is on the line for democrats. Caller think you for c i do not know if it is a good idea to have the talk radio show people. They are a commercial group. If we wanted to hear them, we would tune in to them. The conservatives like to bring up this term, class warfare. I wanted to ask, what exactly is class warfare if we are an equal opportunity, all men are created equal society . I will take my answer off of the air. Ken is on the line for independents. I believe there are enough individuals within the where there is a possible alternative to have each one of these people who no longer receive benefits live with wall street executives and everybody in congress. Maybe congress should have three People Living with them, one for nafta, one for wall street, and one for general principles, being humanitarian. Host headline from this mornings new york times. Reporting out of tokyo. Officials on both sides of the pacific hailed it agreement involving a marine base on oak in our. Strong opposition to the deal and the prime ministers recent visit to a war shrine cast a shadow over the diplomatic celebration. Despite the United States deep dissatisfaction with the agreement, a phone call between defense secretary chuck hagel and his japanese counterpart was put off. The postponement had yes less to do with open now than the japanese prime ministers appearance at the shrine that. Onors the nations war dead big story making the rounds in Foreign Policy stories Foreign Policy circles. Eff is on our line for republicans. Caller i would like to ask the moderator if there was a way you could put back up on the screen the specific areas where the Unemployment Benefits are used. My question is to all of the people who are calling in stating they want the benefits to extend. Isquestion is, for how long this going to be . Is this going to be forever . Why does it have to be extended retroactively . Why cant we just give a break for a few weeks . How long would you like to see them extended . Like to see them extended for shortterm unemployment. When you use the term long term, do we have a Division Line between shortterm and long term . States that just one year or two years is enough . You have had numerous callers calling in giving exact detail, stating, i know people whose Unemployment Benefits provide more income than other people who are working or trying to work. It is tough out there and i fully understand that. I am not trying to be cold or hard. But four or five years . There has to be a cutoff point. Host that was jeff in iowa. The map he referenced can be found at the Washington Post website. On the line for democrats. I would like to hear some other people on unemployment explain to the rest of the country that we are not sitting around not looking for jobs. We are required by law to look for a minimum of three jobs a in, turned that paperwork register for job services, and pay federal enfolding tax on all of these benefits. It is not just a handout. I was laid off from my job, for which i got paid very well. I took a minimum wage job washing dishes, which i also got laid off from. To all of those people out there who would like to know how it really works, that is how it really works. Host are you one of those people who will be affected by this law . Yes, i will no longer receive benefits. Way toas no possible gather finances to make sure one could pay their rent or mortgage or utilities or buy food or car payments. It was sprung upon us. By the way, you no longer have an income regardless of what the Unemployment Rate was in your area or for any other reason. Host when did you find out . Caller twoandahalf or three weeks ago. Host what is your plan Going Forward . Plan is to continue to follow the rules, continue to look for a job and do what i can and hope that maybe i can find something whereby i do not become homeless. Host another important headline this morning from the associated press. Reported sexual assaults in the military rise. They shot up by more than 50 this year. The increase suggests the victims may be more willing to come forward after a tumultuous put pressure on the military to take action. There are more than 5000 reports of sexual assaults filed during the fiscal year that ended september 30. Of those 2013 reports, about 10 involved incidents before the victim got into the military. That increase suggests confidence in the system is growing and victims are more willing to come forward. The topic this morning, one point 3