President obama and ted cruz have defended natos role in keeping the world safe. Do you think nato is a good u. S. Investment . Republicans call in at 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. Independents, 2027488002. For those outside the u. S. , 2027488003. cspanwj and facebook. Com cspan. We are talking nato this morning. The u. S. Role in the 67yearold alliance. We are talking about the u. S. Contribution to nato which equates to 500 million a year, according to Defense Department budgets. Not role has become a concern on the campaign trail. This from the Washington Times this morning. Secretarygeneral Jens Stoletenberg said he welcomed more attention to nato and nato related issues in the u. S. Bit of Donald Trumps recent comments in the Washington Post editorial board. [video clip] donald trump i see nato as a good thing to have. I look at the ukraine situation ad i say, so, ukraine is country that affects us far less than it affects other countries and nato. Yet, we are doing all the lifting. Why is it that germany is not dealing with nato on ukraine . Why is it that other countries that are in the vicinity of the ukraine, why arent they dealing why are we always the one that is leading the third world war with russia . Why are we always the ones that are doing it . The concept of nato is good, but i think the u. S. Has to have some help. I will give you a better example. Ofpay hundreds of millions dollars every year in supporting other countries. Look at germany, look at saudi arabia, look at japan, look at south korea, we spend millions of dollars on saudi arabia and they have nothing but money. Why . And structure a deal and it would be a much, much better deal. We cannot afford to do this anymore. Host u. N. Secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg is in washington this week. His comments were part of a fourday visit that included an Oval Office Meeting on monday with president obama. Here is a bit from that Oval Office Meeting. [video clip] it will affect us all, from brussels to the u. S. All the allies contribute to the u. S. Efforts to degrade and destroy isil. We started the training of officers and we will continue to support the efforts of the u. S. And other countries to fight isil. We also discussed how nato can increase our support to all the countries in the region to enable them to stabilize their own countries and to fight isil. Different ways of Building Local capacity. Later in that meeting, president obama called nato a linchpin and a cornerstone of the american and European Security policy. Our viewers for this morning, do you think nato is a good u. S. Investment again, line for republicans, 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. Independents, 2027488002. Those outside the u. S. , if you have comments, 2027488003. You can catch up with us on social media as well on facebook. This question has been posted and several comments already. Ryan writes in this morning yes, nato is a good investment, but why not cut 10 of our bloated military budget and use the money for our own people . Amy writes i read that nato is no longer what it is intended to be. You can follow was on facebook come on twitter or call in like bob in iowa. An independent. You are up first on washington journal. Caller thank you for cspan. It is indeed a godsend to television. I wanted to wish you and everybody watching a good morning. And then i wanted to get to the question. I think nato is an excellent investment. Wasneeds to be used as a originally intended to be. Organization that only goes into action a whenvely offensively there is a selfdefense reason to do so. With what it that believe to be with all to Samantha Power , lets contrast that with the u. N. The u. N. Does not serve the purpose it was originally intended for at all anymore. Become i guess the best way to describe it is a self injuryed organization for the u. S. Host the concern among donald trump and others who share his view is that nato is becoming too reliant on the u. S. U. S. Direct investment in nato comes out to about 500 million a year. The concern donald trump anothers point out is that nato documents show the majority of nato members failed to meet natos guidelines that were established in 2006 that expenditures should account for 2 of each countrys gdp. You can see from this chart from the nato website, the states actually meeting that target of 2 of gdp from member nations. United states, greece, poland, United Kingdom and estonia. All the other members of nato falling short of that goal. Is nato still a good u. S. Investment . Melissa is in california. Republican. Caller good morning. Say i am foro trump and im a conservative. Is good, but we cannot keep paying for everyone elses way. Theres Homeless People everywhere i go. California is not the same as it used to be. The economy is in shambles. People are really hurting. Everybodys a scornful of the people who cry out for help. I hope we start to listen to each other and care about each other. Before it gets worse. But we cannot keep paying everybody elses way. We have to take care of our fellow americans that are hurting. This nato issue, of course it is important. You have to be wise with your money. You have to take care of your people or you will spend care about the homeless. The nato issue, had some of the people pay for part of it. Its only fair. Host lets head up to montana where carmen is waiting. An independent. Caller i just want to Say Something about that last comment. Acting like donald trump is so concerned about normal everyday people, you see him throwing people out the door without their jackets, people getting beat up on the floor and he is he will payybody for their legal fees. We need to nato. We need anything that promotes peace, especially in these days when the rich do not take any responsibility in this country to start wars, like dick cheney i swear neocons to god, they should be in jail. Host you say we do need to nato. One of the concerns expressed by monti on twitter, it gets us into fights we dont need to be an around the world. In around the world. What would you say to monty . Should i think monty look at the past, 68 years nato , what they have stopped and what they have done for peace. Mideast, ahe whole lot of them want to flood into europe. We need to protect europe and they need to protect us with their intel. We have to keep nato. Donald trump is saying they dont put this much money and its about the piece. Orth more than any war. Its about peace. We come back with some kind of trade deal with workers for . 60 an hour. Host we go to tim. Caller thank you for taking my call. Way too muchng money as far as our share of money. They need to pay their share. It comes down to our kids and grandkids in debt. I know we have to have peace in the world, but we cannot do it with our money. And then telling us what to do. Everything he said he was going to do has been the biggest lie in the world. I pray that trouble get in there because he is not a politician. I was pulling for carson, i thought he was a great, honest person. ,e can pull the nation together he can pull the black situation together, which is credible. We of a lot more credible things here getting ready to break loose. Who are you supporting now . Caller honestly, Bernie Sanders. I hope people cut a lot of stuff out. He is saying the same thing over and over, but if we have three or four of those things, it. Ould change efforts we are a country that is free in a lot of ways. It is set up for the superrich. Every time the market goes down, they make money because they have money to scam. Families in the world making money off of us. Host Bernie Sanders primary fight against Hillary Clinton continues, all eyes on new york. The wyoming caucus this weekend, but the big delegate Treasure Chest is in new york later this month. Hillary clinton talked about the nato issue as well. Here is a bit from some of Hillary Clintons recent comments. [video clip] nato in particular is one of the best Investments America has ever made. In the balkans to afghanistan and beyond, nato allies have fought alongside the u. S. Commissioner and the burdens and alongside the u. S. Burdens ande sacrifices. Theyame known as the are at the heart of what makes nato the most successful alliance in history. Turning our back on our alliances or turning our alliance into a protection hurt decades of american leadership. Host john kasich wrote recently on twitter as these comments came up from donald trump one other tweet, this yesterday from john mccain lets go to tamara waiting in california. Republican. His nato a good u. S. Investment . Caller i dont think so. I think it is a bad investment, both in terms of what it costs and its mission. It was designed to protect europe from soviet incursion. There is no soviet union anymore. Russia has no interest in annexing Eastern European countries. They have as much to fear from western europe as they do from russia. More of a threat to poland prior to world war ii than russia. We need to reduce our investment fiscally and it needs to be repurposed to fight Islamic Jihad because that is a real threat to europe right now. Host you concerned about what happened in crimea and what is happening in Eastern Ukraine . Does europe need to see that as a threat . Caller look what happened in ukraine. Iev, russia coup in k wo small areas vitalaine that are it has interests only acted to protect the russian populace in two areas of ukraine were National Security is important to russia. Look what nato is doing to Eastern European countries. Countries that used to aggregate and have some level of national defense, such as yugoslavia, have been broken up into tiny principalities that cannot protect themselves. That is not a good thing for eastern europe. Host on twitter, fred writes in sherry is up next in florida. Independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I want to say, first off, i fromed the entire program nato yesterday. Before i saw this, i had big reservations, like everybody else, about everybody paying their fair share. After i watched and listened to stoltenberg, last year, we told in nato thatlies they need to start paying their 2 gdp. He said, as of last year, they investment inng military. Yes, they had not started meeting the 2 gdp that they are supposed to, but they stopped the reduction. For people that are saying no, it is a bad investment, im sorry, but they are wrong. I watched the entire program. Yes, people are not paying their fair share monetarily. I dont agree with that. Sweden and finland have played a huge part in afghanistan. The italians are paying a huge part in training. People need to educate themselves, like i do, especially when you have a bad feeling and you dont think and there going right is corruption true, there is corruption on both sides, ok . Like the superdelegates with hillary. The democratic side of the election is rigged. The republican side is rigged. Host we will get into the election a little later in the show. Glad you were able to catch that event. If viewers want to watch Jens Stoltenberg at the lannett council yesterday, go to that at the Atlantic Council yesterday, go to www. Cspan. Org. You brought up how Different Countries are changing their military spending in recent years related to that provision that nato ask that each country of the alliance spend 2 of gdp. Fact checkingwas Donald Trumps statements about nato and u. S. Spending in nato. Diplomat said defense spending cuts have all but stopped in European Countries in response to the new threat from russia. Soon beean powers with spending 2 of gdp on defense. That is meeting nato guidelines. Some of the more recent spending happening in different nato member countries in europe. John in new york. A democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. I watch that program yesterday the lady before was talking about. We only pay . 11 on the dollar for nato. Nato does a lot of things. , alsos also into nasa doing stuff with nasa. They are all over. Nato does good things, people dont read anything about nato and what they do all the time. Whoonly listen to people say what they dont want to hear. They dont want to hear what nato is doing. , pakistan, over iraq all over certain places. You should play that thing that nato lady was saying yesterday again. U. S. Thatlain to the nato is doing so just because the other countries are not paying 2 now, they will be paying it, but we need nato. Host the nato annual Budget Committee was provides 500 million a year the nato annual budget, the u. S. Provides 500 million year. The u. S. And for other countries members that only meet the 2 spending on defense goal. Countries have spent less on defense in recent years. Some of those numbers are starting to change in response to new threats and the changing news in europe. Jim in spartanburg, south carolina. Republican. Caller good morning. Those who question natos before nato, war spread through europe constantly. Sometimes involved russia, sometimes not. Says it is no longer necessary ignore the renaissance stage. Europe has not attacked one another. They have not been in war in six decades. We can trade with them, produceed by war to prosperity between both continents. Those who say nato is irrelevant because weve come of age in the anymore between england and france and france and germany, they ignore the worst that happened in the past. Late ops have even as made back their we protected europe from being overrun by Russian Troops or russian tanks. It does serve a purpose. I cant even believe a politician would say that. If they do come i dont know if they understand military history and world history. Host here is james in a recent article that he wrote about the importance of nato in time magazine. A former nato commander and retired fourstar navy admiral. He wrote that nato is not a cold war relic. If you want to see his piece, it is in time magazine. Larry in minnesota. Independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am voting for trump because he will be the next president of the united states. The whole thing yesterday from the secretarygeneral, i was so impressed. I believe nato is still very relevant. Our viewers. Org if want to watch that event yesterday at the Atlantic Council. Connie in kansas city, kansas. A democrat. Caller good morning. I am definitely for nato. I want to warn other americans, i dont know who they are, but russia and prudent has been has been putin working very hard to break up the nato union. The spread a lot of propaganda through the mideast. To go into all the details, but america has to realize that a lot of this protesting and anger at the west , they are drinking vodka spiked koolaid. Nato does a lot of good in the world. Societyss free democracies and we are truly a union of democracies on the planet. I will be darned if i will allow and ournravel nato western protections. People better think about it, they want to put this guy in the presidency. The leader of the free world. You have a cup of coffee and wake up they needed to have a cup of coffee and wake up. People are reading too many alternative news websites and not bring attention to the facts. Paying attention to the facts. This country has to be its own filter. Since we dont have people editing and double ,hecking news online anymore human beings, especially americans need to be more careful and check into these things themselves. They have to be their own editor and they have to be smart enough to check all kinds of different sources for their information. Host connie in kansas city, kansas. We go back to your phone calls in a few seconds. Did want to point out some news on a story weve been following some of the Obama Administrations efforts to cut down on corporate inversions. Post front page lead story. That is the news a story on the front page of the Washington Post. If you go to the opinion page of the wall street journal where column abouta this deal and what happened and the pressure that pfizer came under from the u. S. Government. A response from the chairman and ceo of pfizer in todays wall street journal. Back to the phones. Barbara in las vegas, nevada. He democrat. In morning. A democrat. Good morning. Caller i thought nato, one of the main reasons they were formed was due to nuclear and gaining im sorry, i had it right before. Host are you talking about concerns of the Nuclear Threat . Caller right. Not tonted to countries create or make or go after Nuclear Weapons. They joined and the big countries joined because we did not want a lot of countries to weaponslear, atomic laying around everywhere. Host i think you are talking about the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty. Reason that was the main one of the main reasons of nato being put together. That facedlp nations russia. We dont want to get into a nuclear war. I thought that was one of the main reasons that nato exists. Trying to keep Nuclear Weapons from running around everywhere. Host falls church, virginia. Independent. Good morning. Caller i want to put a vote in for intellectual honesty in the various topics of debate this morning. Stop personalizing the value of the question is, is nato a good investment . I dont think anybody would disagree that if you invested in a company and got nothing from it, you would call it a bad investment. I dont think anybody is saying that we are getting nothing from nato, but the comments were, are we getting enough . Are we getting the value for the funds we are putting into it . Legitimatet is a area to look into. Start a debate to say, wait a minute, should people be paying dust pe