Independents independents, call 202 7488002. You can reach us on facebook or twitter. The house gases budget, a win for the gop. The house on thursday passed a republican budget would boost defense spending, social welfare programs, and target obamacare. In what gop cast as the victory for fiscal sanity. It passed to 26 to 197, 14 republicans joining every democrat in opposition. Republican leaders have pointed to the budget framework which balances in a decade by cutting more than 5 trillion from spending as yet more proof that in all gop congress is governing effectively. The senate is expected to pass the combined budget next week. Even as the house passed in the first joint budget in roughly a decade, republicans are already seeing signs they would face difficulties, including a divide between defense and fiscal hawks. They are trying to turn the budget numbers and fleshed out spending bills. The gop budget, crafted by representative tom price and senator mike enzi sticks to the budget ceiling of 1. 017 trillion for fiscal 2016, that was put in place by the 2011 deal to raise the debt ceiling. To win over defense hawks, the framework gives a more than 90 billion boost to an off the books were fund the critics on both sides of the aisle have termed a slush fund. A little bit on the hill. From politico this morning black lawmakers see renewed hope on Justice Reform. Members of the congressional black caucus, who spent years or even decades pushing in vain for criminal Justice Reform say their fellow lawmakers in congress are finally paying heed in the heightened attention on the heels of a highprofile death of black men who have been shot by police or died in their custody, sparking protests riots, in baltimore in ferguson, missouri. They look at the crack cocaine disparity, how we are paying thousands of dollars to house these folks when other methods could be just as effective. That appeals to republicans. A democratic representative from indiana, whether the newfound interest yield actual legislation is another matter. Host that is a little bit from the hill. This is an the Washington Post, this morning. Obamas library we in chicago. Will be in chicago. He has chosen his hometown of chicago hosts future president ial library. Host democrats call 202 7488000 republicans call 202 7488001 independent independents, call 202 7488002. What is your top story this week . Robert on the republican line, what is on your mind . Caller it seems like this weeks top news story will be the Supreme Courts hearing of the gay marriage cases. Thats something thats going to impact the country no matter which way that things turn out. I hope that the conservative justices stand up for traditional values, but either way, that is something very important. Host robert in birmingham, the just dutch in redding, california. Independent. Caller hi, how are you doing . Host good. What is on your mind . Caller with all the current unrest happening, is this a place for obama to actually hold power for a third term, america of becoming a martial law state where police state . Host what makes you think that . Dutch . What makes you think that . I think dutch went back to sleep. Front page of the Washington Post, has Bernie Sanders announcement. Taking aim at billionaire class. He seems an unlikely president ial candidate. And next it be an exhippie who rails against a billionaire class taking over the country. There was senator Bernie Sanders on thursday, launching his campaign for the white house and representing a challenge to the Democratic Front runner Hillary Rodham clinton as she fights to win over the kind of leftleaning democrats inclined to heed sanders firey call to action. Guy is a democrat in maryland. Caller what i think would help with the situation in the city would be of some of these companies that say they dont have the insight as far as people being qualified for the positions they have available, i think a lot of companies that are still in this country, if they would get in contact with the School System and try to prepare kids out of High School Level to prepare for the job and the skills they are looking for i think kids would be more inclined to stay in school and get that education they are looking for. Host how do you propose doing that . Caller they say they are looking for special qualities and the workers, and they cant find it in this country. What better way to do that then prepare to to her age at High School Level like vote used to do. Ch the opportunities are gone. Host how close are you to baltimore . Caller im around the corner. I go to baltimore at least twice a week, go to church in the city. The cbs they set on fire, i go past their every time i go to church. That is sad. Host what do you do . Caller i work at columbia maintenance technician. Host thanks for watching. Jesse is in michigan. You have to turn down the volume on your tv. We will put you back on hold and leave it the volume down. You will hear everything for your phone, i promise. This caller is from atlanta. Are you with us on the democrats line . Caller yes, i want to deal with this new excuse that the baltimore excuse for freddie gray, theres that he was trying to kill himself in the back of the van by hitting his head up against this bolt. If that holds was just one whole, it may have hit his head one time, but to constantly hit his head up against the bold, you wouldnt have the same place every time. They come up with these lies and expect us to believe that kind of stuff. That is what this investigative thing is all about. You come up with something to justify this wrong that the police are doing. And then what about his severed spine . 80 of his spine was severed. They should cut this out. This should be independent investigators, not working for the government, but hired by the government so they could possibly tell the truth. The police out here at killing people and they let them do it. Im 69 years old and i have been seeing this kind of murder on black people all my life. They just pick up people, take them out of the woods, beat them up, and take them to the police station. Host if you were in baltimore, would you be marching . I think he hung up. Loretta lynch commented on the baltimore situation this week as well. Loretta lynch the senseless acts of violence are not only a grave danger to the community and they must stop, but they are also counterproductive to the ultimate goal here, just developing a respectful conversation within the baltimore community, and across the nation about the way our Law Enforcement officers interact with the residents that we are charged to serve and to protect. That is a conversation im committed to advancing. I am heartened that the unrest from a few nights ago has seemed to to ease and the members of the community are trying to come together again to clean up their city. I am hopeful that progress will continue in the coming days. 11 just add Something Else about this issue in a larger sense. As we watched the events unfold in baltimore, from the relative security of our offices or through the television screen, it is easy to view baltimore as a symbol of the issues that we must all deal with. And of course, the difficult situation there does highlight so many issues that are part of the national debate. But i would ask that we remember the baltimore, as significant as it is, is more than just a symbol. Baltimore is a city. It is a great city. It is a beautiful city, it is one of our cities. And like so many cities, baltimore is struggling to balance Great Expectations in need with limited resources. It is dealing with balancing the challenges of Public Safety and community expression. Host from the washington times, house moves to scrap nsa phone snooping. The Judiciary Committee put the phone snooping program on the path to being scrapped when a bipartisan majority voted for major reforms to the patriot act. Host jesse from mexican michigan, what is on your mind . Caller good morning. [indiscernible] my comment this morning is about the president of the United States, and why black people have been [indiscernible] i guess maybe they will learn something. This is been for a long time. Host when the mayor of baltimore and the president called some of the writers in baltimore thugs, did that offend you the rioters in baltimore thugs, did that offend you . Caller it does. Do they call white men when they kill somebody . [indiscernible] we expect the president and the mayor of the city to Say Something like that, its racist. But its only want us anyways. I Pay Attention to things. [indiscernible] he doesnt go to white neighborhoods. In a lot of these people that see these things going on, especially a lot of racist people, theyre not all white people. But a lot of good nice people in this country, just like you are. Host what do you do in michigan . Caller i retired from textile. I worked there for 32 years. I worked there for a long time. Host we appreciate you watching cspan. Pascal do our may i ask cold you are . How old you are . Caller im 83. Host victor, were going to have to move on. Brenda, you are on washington journal, we are all listening. Caller i think that Michael Brown the gentleman in new york city and now freddie gray, think there are big differences. This is not going to be a popular comic, but i think Michael Brown was a thug. He stole stuff out of the store he shoved the store owner, there is no doubt in my mind he wouldve killed that Police Officer and he scuffled with him in the police car. I think his death was justified. The gentleman in new york city where he said he couldnt breathe 11 times, i think that some action should have been taken. I think the Police Officers were at fault. With this freddie gray, im not really sure yet. I dont know the findings, but i dont know, like in ferguson his hands werent up he wasnt hands of dont shoot. He was a thug no matter what anybody says, he was a thug. Even eric holder didnt want the video shown, because it showed he was a thug. And then his father were stepfather was up there and said bernard down. There was all that unrest and he shouldve gotten arrested for inciting the riots. Host brenda at lockport, new york. Chuck is an independent in crystal river, florida. Jack, you are on cspan. Chuck, you are on cspan. Caller this is historically, it has proven that systematic takedowns of a communist takeover, and aggressor takeover that these crises are created, and when they are created in the rule law gets out of hand, the government says oh my goodness, you guys are controlling it. My question is, i think this president in my mind wants to control the rule law and bring an end to martial law and therefore the constitution will be no when he will have total control, and then hillary will be able to come in on a popular vote. I think thats what hes doing. Host have you seen evidence of that . Caller i have. They are nothing our area of homeland security, its a high area of retired military, real high. They are really watching everything that we do carefully. The fema pens that around the country, we have evidence that russian garrisons are inside garrisons of the human called the sheriff in the county, and the sheriff said we know they are there but there but theres nothing we can do. They are planning a whole bunch of stuff, whether you like to believe it or not. Host are you retired military . Caller retired marine. Host thank you for calling him. It was tuesday that the Supreme Court heard the arguments in the gay marriage debate. Here are the two main opposing attorneys in their statements after the court. [video clip] today was a landmark day. There are millions of people across the nation who helped create this day and make it possible. You will lose names we will never know, but certainly, the legal teams, the political teams, people in every state who have tried to stand up for equal dignity of gay people, because gay people are part of our common humanity and our citizenship in this country. The court asked tough questions today, that is their job. And we are very happy to be here and just again very grateful to everybody having had this opportunity today. Last but not least, i do need to say the real heart of this issue will always, every day, israel people who committed to one another, who simply want to make that commitment a legal one. And take responsibility for one another and have that support. That is where we hope this will end up in the end. The three key justice is the main competition for attention to our Justice Kennedy number one. He says this is the mayors definition we have had for millennia. How are we in a position that we can decide better than everybody else in the history of the world . You have just described with the same point about marriage and said why is it a thin line of us get to decide rather than the people . And you have chief Justice Roberts used as if we decide this question, it will cut a bit of a cathedral would ordinarily happy the democratic losses. Those were really the themes we were pushing from the beginning and we felt very encouraged by that. 1 host mary in worcester massachusetts. Caller good morning. I will just be to you about something that happened many years ago. Im 84 years old and widowed and i live in worcester, i grew up in the midwest. Ive come back to the east coast to study the history my husband taught about in high school in california. In world war ii, my brotherinlaw was stationed as a copilot in england. And his wife, my sister, worked at the Telephone Office in kansas. She had a penpal she had a lady in britain that she wrote to on a regular basis. And they exchanged gifts, the woman in England Center heather, ive never seen heather is a little girl. She sent her soap and my sister would centers open of the things, they became friends. I think we should do a friend to friend thing in baltimore. I would take on a young woman that had children, i have raised two daughters. I have the means that i could be a friend to this woman, help her in growing with her children, and helping them to go to school, helping her if she needs money. I have some money. I would help her with clothing, i would help her with the money to buy food. It could be a person to man. And we can help america to save ourselves from the terrible things that are happening in our society. I was a little girl growing up in kansas on a farm. I was the youngest daughter of six. I have a younger brother still living in ohio. Hes 81 years old i am 83 years old, he is my best friend. We talk to in three times a week. Solving the problems of the United States. I will vote, i will send money today for Bernie Sanders, because he is my generation. He knows what its like. I have been through all the potholes, i have been through tornadoes. I have been through floods, i have seen it all. I know the sorrow of war. Because we lost many men when i was growing up. They were the workers. They were the farmworkers that helped my daddy on the farm in kansas. At 12 years of age, i drove the we truck to the elevators. The wheat truck. You could get a license at 12 years old at that time. I loved it to go to the elevators. Host i very much appreciate you sharing some of that history and with your idea. Are you on the internet, you have a computer . Caller i do. Host have you thought about reaching out to someone in baltimore and posting them on facebook . Caller i plan to send a donation to the minister of the church there and i will also be in contact with the mayor. Host that is marion worcester, massachusetts. I hope we get to hear from you again, thank you for sharing your personal story with us. This is from Bloomberg News this morning. The irs may be trying to stop Tax Exemption of karl roves crossroads gps. A little bit from the story, the irs may be trying to block the Tax Exemption of one of the largest politically active nonprofit groups, crossroads grassroots policy strategies, an organization founded by republican strategist karl rove. The oblique disclosure can be found between the lines of the inspector generals report released on thursday. Which said that 149 of 160 installed applications from nonprofits with potential ties to politics have been resolved. Of the other 11, 6 are in litigation in the irs, and five have received repose denial letters or appealing. That suggest that the irs has sent crossroads a denial letter, thats a little bit from this article in bloomberg. In politico this morning, how rand paul blew it on baltimore. When rand paul lost launched his president ial campaign he focused on the inner city the other america, the place where people experience a daily ugliness that dashes hope and leaves only the fatigue of despair. Three weeks into a campaign where he promised to broaden the gops base of support in some of those places he has missed critical opportunities to change the parties dialogue with minority communities. On tuesday, as baltimore burned in the late the wake of the latest episode, pauls response was notably off key. I came through the train on baltimore last night. Im glad the train didnt stop. Host brian is in chicago democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning, peter. Regarding the situation in baltimore, but we do know is that freddie gray had run into a building, followed by police, who went into the building. We dont know what went on in the building. The officer in charge has not been interviewed. What we all have seen with our own eyes is freddie gray, being pulled out of the building, bent over, had nearly touching the ground then pulled up to an almost any position, but his toes, the toes of his shoes are touching the ground and he is being dragged. Whatever went on inside of that building, we dont know. But if he was already beaten with billy clubs, on his back, he they have already been in a paralyzed condition. We know he was severely injured. He may have already been paralyzed, his sp