Eastern or central time zones call to a 2748800 oh. Weekende traveling this , 2027488002. You can check a social media and also on facebook. Lets start by taking a look at those numbers from aaa. Just to get an idea of how busy this travel weekend will be. 43 million americans are expected to travel this Independence Day weekend. Thats according to aaa. Highest on record, 5 million more than over the memorial day weekend that just passed. 20ican drivers have saved billion on gasoline taxes they taxes or one of the Drivers Behind this boost in the expected number of travelers on the road this share. At the same time, there is trouble on the roads according to a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers. A gave americas overall infrastructure system a d grade , but for road specifically the roads earned billion almost 30,000 30,000 jobs and reduces the federal deficit 200 million, and we get the benefit of improved infrastructure. Thats why every major Interest Group supported raising revenues for transportation. When i introduced the gas tax byrease that was supported the American Chamber of commerce, the aflcio, by truckers and aaa, engineers, virtually everybody who bills, uses, maintains or owns infrastructure said racist fee help us rebuild the new america. And 10from each barrel from the amount that they gave already taken from all of us and raise the tax federally, yes. Caller i think this is where you failed us as a news media. You had ray on ray hood on, former transportation secretary, and he said he has a lobby 49 million to invest in the roads and bridges. Administration took a hundred 25 billion to fix our roads and bridges. 1 of the three quarters of a trillion dollars that we gave the fifth government. They took it. To fix our roads. All i see is seven of the dohers, the two nfl high that does not produce a thing, but have been enriched right taxpayer funds. In thelding behind you media in this country ought to be ashamed of themselves. Do is to bother us and still our money. From bloomington, illinois. My, would you pay more money to fix a roads . Caller yes with some caveats. Living here in the peoples republic of illinois, we have a long history we started driving a 1980 a gallon of gas was . 99. I was driving the most bargainbasement car i could find, which was a 70 Plymouth Fury which got 11 miles to the gallon. You look at the numbers now, if you are looking for cheap car find one. Fit 51 host the mileage is brought up. Host gasoline prices have gone down, which is one reason why we have so many people who are on the road this weekend and this year. Taxes, lower is an increase in the gas tax more palatable to taxpayers . Host thats why i said i agree with some caveats. The caveats would be where they spend it for one thing. And what states are allowed to do. Interstate 80, 94, february funded system. It has tolls on it that are collected now and sent to a third party because of negotiations that have been done. Thete is getting state should not be allowed to benefit by that money. They are already benefiting from a federal system that put that interstate there to begin with, increasing traffic and commerce. Its going to be unpopular. I would like to see a bottom and on gas prices, just say gas is going to cost two dollars a 50 a gallono dollar minimum and their attempt goes down whatever that surpluses thats what goes into the highway fund. Host states all over the country are trying to find solutions to the shortfall for highway spending, includes including east coast states. Which are looking to tax the amount that people travel as opposed to gasoline. Pilotsates are proposing to figure out how they might charge motorists a fee for the amount of travel rather than taxing their gas. Up next irvine, timberlake, North Carolina. Would you be willing to pay a gas tax . And what a per mile tax be better than the gas tax . Caller no that would be the biggest scam of all. Debris carolina they bring in a billion dollars in gas taxes and they put half of it and a general fund that goes to welfare. To get a car registered here just to transfer a tag is 50. In tennessee it is nine dollars. They just rip you off. You go to court all day long and it ends up being a disaster. Your insurance goes up. I dont know what they do that money. I think maybe they just waste it. You live in one of the top 10 easiest states in terms of interstate travel with just 21 4 million in billions in vehicle miles traveled. How do you think the roads are, how do they look in North Carolina . Caller North Carolina had some of the best looking roads ivers saw. The best roads i ever saw was florida. Even the back roads here are excellent. That you have the dot, theyll be fixing the pothole and have five supervisors, three dump trucks and one guy working. Thats the problem. If they can figure out a way to quit wasting money and time and labor, then i would be for it. Jim up next we have calling in from spartanburg, South Carolina, also a very busy state in terms of interstate travel. Would you pay more for better roads . Caller it depends. What happened to obamas democratsand yet the just showed one of them in the well of the congress complaining and acting like it never happened and somehow we are strapped again. But the money in the stimulus did not go to roads, it went for the California Teachers Union to buy votes. Now they want more money for states like illinois and new york. Union hotbeds that dont do work quickly and are protected by Democratic Union protections. How when you mentioned when she mentioned ohio and you lot of them for the program, you didnt mention governor. I think you did a great job. He should be the one to have received our nomination on the republican side. Its a shame. Taxpayer, i would pay more taxes if there went directly to that and not pulling all sources for people who have nothing to do the stimulus projects directly. From catherine calling in cleave, ohio. Ford you pay more money better quality of roads . Caller it depends bit i live in ohio about and you can go three feet with it running into a pothole. My main issue is this. If we would raise the taxes, would they bring and cruise from russia . People fromring in india . Would they bring in people from mexico . Would it be legitimate american jobs, truly unionized jobs. Cannot goio, you three feet without running into a covert that is rotting. Now you have six feet of blacktop on top of it. You have the signs up everywhere, i live on zion road here in cleave, ohio. Probably less than a quarter of a mile from where i live, there has been to portable light systems on the hill for a year and a half. They said to me because i call the Hamilton County roads all the time. The way they want to correct the problem is they are thinking about closing the roads because they dont want to fix them. They complain they dont have enough money. Another complaint that they have, which i think is bogus, they say they dont have anybody who will work. Ohio, you state like have a lot of interstate going through it, i75 and other Interest Rates interim states do you think people should pay a greater share of the amount of my that goes to fix arrive rose inside of ohio . Caller no. I think every american should pay the same. I feel like every company should pay more. The problem is that we dont charge companies more. We do on paper, but then they get the tax write off at the end of the year. People like you and i, of course i am retired now, but people who work for a living pay the full load. Just some other headlines that we are at today, the house gop plans to vote next week on the corn and gun measure. The debateing off of over gun control in congress, including a sit in by house democrats. The House Republican leaders are planning a vote next week on an antiterrorism package that includes a gun related measure john on a measure by cornyn, republican of texas. The proposal already rejected by the senate would require the Justice Department to go to court to prove probable cause before he or she is barred from purchasing firearms. Today, as wees talk about the state of american roads on the 60th anniversary of the u. S. Highway system. Would you pay more for better roads. Terrel from lincoln, california, you are on. Would you pay more money . Caller not only would i, but probably should. We have have electric cars for three years. We charge them with our solar on the solar panels roof so we dont pay anything for transportation at all. We put over 40,000 miles on the two electric cars that we have had. It seems to me that they are missing the boat as we get more and more electric cars on the road. Its a good thing for the environment that we are getting more and more electric cars, but they are not paying anything to the infrastructure to maintain the roads. We probably should be paying more there. I have been to california and spent a lot of time on i5. Do you think the needs are in california are different than in some of the other parts of the country . Ofler i have spent a lot hours on i5 myself, i can tell you that mostly the need in california, for the interstates are probably more the responsibility of the longhaul truck drivers, because they do more damage to the roads than the cars do. I think they are ready pay a larger share for road maintenance and the gasoline taxes. Its probably why the diesel is more than gasoline. Host chris calling from san diego. Would you pay more for better roads in california . Caller i would. I think that in pro improving roads and infrastructure is the most exciting rings that taxpayers can spend their money on. The roads here in san diegos are not exactly the best quality, but i think that just means we have more work to do. Host how do you think that the spending or the tax should be allocated . There are a lot more people using the roads in california than there are in some of the other states. Should it be more allocated . Should the residents of those states pay a greater share to maintain they met interstate system or do you think it should be the other way around . I think having a uniform method of taxation by who uses the most oil, maybe promoting using Public Transportation is furtherg that can deter wear and tear on the roads. It does less damage on the environment. Its not just some states that are facing not just federal officials that are iting budget shortfalls when comes to maintain the roads. In new jersey, governor chris priceie who is a rumored Program Vice President to pick on the republican side is putting road projects on hold in the middle of a Funding Crisis there. According to the New York Times is set for months the governor said that new Jersey Transportation funding was not in crisis, but after he embraced plans to raise the gas tax the state senate balked at the proposal. States are facing funding crises as well. Summerville, South Carolina. Do, would you pay more for the ride rose in South Carolina and what do you think of the roads there . Caller the roads are in horrible condition at this time. I would think that most residents of the state of South Carolina would be willing to pay more in order to have better roads. I also think that the insurance companies, too, should be a part of this responsibility of keeping up the roads as well you it would make the roads safe, and less accidents. Tax would you prefer a gas , attacks per gallon of gas, which are proposed and east officials are looking into mileage tax base on how many miles are under car. How would you like to see additional funds raised to fix the roads . Caller i see no problem with may be raising the taxes on the gasoline per gallon in that way. The price of gasoline will go after thehe election anyway. Our elected officials need to be held accountable for maintaining , it should be under two dollars a gallon and it should remain that way. Our elected officials with all due respect accountability of these funds. Billions of dollars are appropriated and to be allocated for good purposes, that money never gets to where it should go. South carolina also should have a state sales tax. It would certainly help as well. Ron from boswell, indiana, another busy state for interstate travel. Do you think more money should be spent by taxpayers . We should not give it to any Government Agencies until we can stop the corruption and greed. They should have to show paperwork out every time they spend. Them to the same stringent law that they hold us by, it we would be a lot better off. They waste about 40 of what they take in across the board. They cant run the dmv, the post office. Why spend more money to the dead elephant down there and go on with what we are doing with no or personal care what they do with it. They blow it all the time, from health care to roads. Until we stop wasting our money, and have fiscal conservative for a money in taxes, we will always end up like this. Sherry from canton, ohio. Would you pay more money to fix the roads there in ohio . Caller no. Please me talk. I do have a solution to this problem. One thing spending on Illegal Immigrants and i have been working two months on a special welfare, of fraud of over 50,000 in one case. A section eight person does not live in the house but they use it for storage. Ofm working with the ig Cleveland Ohio and nobody will do anything about this. Host how does that relate to highway funny. Caller it is showing an exorbitant amount of money is going for fraud and maybe we could use that for the roads. Host ok. We have bob calling it, from canton, georgia. How do you think the roads are doing there in georgia and would you pay more money . Georgiaroads here in are probably in average condition. Our climate and the gentleman mentioned the beautiful rose in florida. The climate down here compared to what i grew up in michigan is different, you dont have the salt or the harsh weather. The the problem with the infrastructure in this country is a story of a disgraceful, politically craven strategy on the part of this house of representatives and the u. S. Senate. ,his countrys infrastructure we have had bridges collapsing, with thisd problems infrastructure for years and we have known about it. They have done the studies and they know how many of these types of structures need to be replaced and which do not pass inspection. At a time when the government , a sickly spent money without paying interest on it because of the way the economy was and because the way the government is spending and the way the treasury bills are set up, they could have done it cheaply but no. We could not do it because we could not allow this president to bring this country fully back. The United States is not the only place dealing with crumbling infrastructure according to the wall street journal. The world needs to boost Infrastructure Spending but many countries are cutting back instead of increasing the amount. Researchers estimate that the world needs to increase investment i about 2. 4 of global output between now and 2030 to meet the increased demands to move people and goods. That translates into an additional 300 billion extra. The United States is not alone in the need to boost its infrastructure including its roads. We are talking to our viewers about it. We have sheila coming up next from oklahoma. Would you pay more money for roads . Theer that unless bureaucracy can put the money where they say it will go. We are missing a big issue. As to why the government cannot pay more to this days. That is because a 20 trillion ,ebt that they have accumulated spending it in different ways. When you say when you are saying that some of the states want to tax people for the fuel they use, it will not go to pay for the infrastructure but to the people that are in charge. Host we have robert calling in from frostburg, maryland. Would you pay more money to fix the roads . Caller i will tell you why. People elect politicians to run our country. Until the politicians take control back of running our country instead of allowing these Corporate Masters to tell them what to do, i do not care what problems we have, we will continue to have problems. Until the politicians take control back to roll our government and quit being paid off by these corporate people, we will have problems with roads and every other problem you want to mention. , from theinges American Society of Civil Engineers was on washington journal last month talking about americas Infrastructure Spending. The next 10ok at years, 20 162025, if we continue the way we are investing at current levels, each family can expect to lose 3400 per year. The u. S. Gdp will underachieve by 3. 9 trillion dollars by the year 2029. Sales will lapse by 20 trillion and 2. 5 million jobs will be at risk by 2025. This is a big economic issue. Infrastructure issues are also regarding safety. But this is a profound economic issue. Randyup next, we have calling in from mount arlington, new jersey. Would you pay more for roads . Would you think about the Current Situation there with governor christie . More thatwould pay i think wene else, need to vote for a smaller government. Pretty upsetting. Callnd out that we could in and enough people did callin and stopped the vote. Governor christies answer was i made a deal with the democratic houses and you have to understand that. This is a deal that had to be made. He really made us feel like we were all foolish for fighting be taxed. I dont know if you are familiar with sound barriers, but new jersey seems to be the king of sound barriers. Down and around overpasses. They are up over health. If you could say i will stop 100 of all construction except for roads and bridges with this tax, that would be different. Host let me ask you this what do you think about the stat