Political parties in this country are this integrating. Ardisanother hearing on wedn. This is a plan by democrats on integrating. Are they disintegrating, the Political Parties . We welcome your comments on twitter. Thoughts on facebook. Com cspan. We will play the comments of governor kasich. On politico,that they talk about the interview yesterday with chuck todd. He pleaded for republicans to work with democrats on their Mitch Mcconnell said, we are not going to make him a oneterm president. Is to employ off. That is not the way it works. Lets say they tried to work with the president. That do you think democrats can have some influence . In the Minority Party on capitol hill obviously. Not the white house but can there per se, in committee have some kind of impact on the bill being shaped by republicans . Caller yes. Because that is what they want. That is what the whole world is pursuing. If you give me something that i want, i will give you something that you want. But if it is to for ted, it is not going to happen. I want to show you a little bit. Just numbers in terms of the vote counting on capitol hill with this republican plan. At least 10 republican senators have expressed doubts. We have george, welcome. Caller good morning. I am a republican. A moderate republican. I voted for john kasich because i felt he was reasonable and realistic in what he said. Someone who said, can we do this. He said no and this is why we cannot do it. Butnnot remember what, instead of saying yes to everything, the man could actually articulate no, that is not reasonable. We wont do that. I remember the party platform. Did you end up voting for donald trump and the election . Donald trump was certainly my last chance. Probably aligned myself even more with gary for garyecause a vote johnson was a vote for hillary clinton. I live in the state of maryland and my vote would not have mattered anyway. Host why does it not matter in maryland . Usuallyour state is democratic. It is not going to matter how a vote because it is going to be democrat almost 100 of the time. But i agree with john kasich from what he just said. Know, republicans make up about 30 40 . Democrats make up about 30 40 , and the rest are independent. I am republican because i believe in house rights. The house with legislation theyre going through right now, honestly . That is not a conservative view. It should go back to the states. I think mitt romney had it right in the massachusetts legislation he helped an act in that state. It worked for that state. Host george, we appreciate your input. Pretty much right. Gallup does a regular paul on Party Affiliation. They ask the question, and politics as of today do you considers upper republican, a democrat, or in independent and the latest from february 2017, 30 republicans, independents 37 , democrats 31 . We go back monthly to look at the column. Six months, eight months or so. Right around 40 . The affiliation, the expressed affiliation is independent. Were asking about clinical parties. John kasich talking about them and their nature and terms of the content of the Health Care Debate saying Political Parties in this country are disintegrating. Susan. Well, that was a great call from that gentleman from maryland. I agree with him 100 . I, too, supported governor kasich because i thought he was a real pragmatist antideals with reality. Especially in his own state of ohio where he really embraced obamacare, deployed and in a way that was compatible with his republican values. Theorks very closely with cleveland clinic, the world leader in health care to develop healthive cascade of care delivery, get health care out to the poor. To the working poor. So he is just a realist and he is spoton when he talks about the disintegration of Political Parties. Look how marco rubio trumpeted reform for a couple of years and then as soon as the heng got tough he thought was running for president , he completely abandoned that. He is just so typical of these hypocrites and these lightweights and these phonies who make up our legislature. Was a bigow, i also fan of gary johnson because i also believe i do not believe on the war on drug. I think it is a horrible waste of taxpayer dollars and does not get us anywhere. I think we should be spending money on treatment and letting addicts live their lives within a controlled setting because that is what works. I will never find a Political Party that will support my views. Host susan, thank you for calling it. We will go to portland, maine, next. Well, welcome. Go ahead. Liker i dont know if i john kasich. I do not know that the two major parties are disintegrating but i wish they would. I was registered as an independent because i did not want to be affiliated with either of the major parties. Aat i reregistered as democrat specifically so i could vote for Bernie Sanders in the primary. Has been ananders independent his entire career, but even he assumed, well if im going to run for president i have to run as a democrat or a republican or i have zero chance of becoming the president of the United States. And that is a lot of the problem right there. Who would have known that this have he probably would won in a landslide because nobody, i mean, a lot of people voted for hillary that did not want to i am sure and a lot of people voted for donald trump who did not want to. But those were our only to choices. Host let me ask you a question about the politics in your state. Thestory we are seeing in independent news that says, there is a new maybelle coming up in the legislature. If you are not an a party member you are an enrolled. The bill has worked its way into the main legislator presented and cosponsored by democratic lawmaker seeks to require candidates to be listed as an with a party. Sted independent is now too strong of a word for those who decide to run with a Party Affiliation. Do you know anything about that . Caller no, i am not to my with that at all. Of it. T like the sound i do not know if im really understanding you correctly when you describe the bill. So what youre saying if they want to run for legislature, be registered as republican or democrat . Host it sounds like it you want to be registered to vote you have to be registered as a democrat or republican. Caller i dont know anything about it but our legislature is told by the republicans. Host now as pollen portland, maine. Think you for the call this morning. The seniored by Senate Correspondent for national journal. The house and senate returning this week. Where is the senate on some of President Trumps nominees this week . Isthis week, the senate looking at the nominee for the center for medicaid and medicare. Also to serve dan coats as the director of national intelligence, he was approved overwhelmingly last week. Host i heard over the weekend that the president s selection was supposed to have a hearing this week. That year he has been postponed. This is the president s call for the democrats to speed things up. Any idea on why that has been postponed over in the senate . Caller this has been the slowest process of cabinet nominees in history. He has been vocal about democrats using their time to hold this down as long as possible. Democrats have something to begin by holding this down, the hours on the senate floor the most valuable thing they have right now. Prices. Been a dragging host on the issue of health care, obviously still the Budget Committee on the house marking up the legislation this week. It could be a week or so before the house actually deals with it. We saw some of the shows of the weekend, rand paul and tom cotton already expressing some concerns over the republican plan likely to come over the house. What are you hearing from republican senators as well as you report on the senate . What other concerned steve they have what other concerns do they have . Andrea you have people like tom cotton saying that it is a bad idea to push forward with something they are not sure about. The house membership in general, these people believe that they do not move quickly that could be their biggest pitfall. That elect early in 2018, they will be in big trouble if they have not been able to produce on a big promise they been making for four cycles now. So that runs at odds with the folks on the house spin caucus have been told they will have an opportunity to mess with this legislation and tweak thef they do make legislation they would have been talking about, it could put it in peril going through the senate. All of that is a big problem for the folks who want to move quickly. All of the republicans agree it needs to move quickly. All of these changes put it in peril to make it through the senate. For covering the senate the national journal, that was andrea. Thank you for joining us this morning. Indra thank you so much. Host we are commenting about the state of Political Parties this morning. John kasich yesterday said the Political Parties are quote disintegrating. We want to weigh in on your thoughts on the Political Parties. Ford washington, maryland, democrats line. Thank you for waiting. Caller thank you for cspan. Trump me dump the atmosphere has become strangulated. It is wonderful for ordinary people. I dont know if the parties are contributing so much to the squabbling. That has been a factor. There has been nothing but dark, ugly stuff coming out of the president that is in the white house right now. Of cant dispute that kind divisiveness for as long as he has done it and live a as compulsively as he has done it without creating a very, very uncertain, insecure atmosphere. My fear is the democrats are going to benefit from some of the craziness. We have a midterm coming up. As far as his house chair bill is concerned, the republicans can push it through but they better consider the fact that they are going to own it. And the social genocide they are committing on the elderly and others is going to put blood on their hands and problems getting reelected. Thank you. Host we will talk more about the bill, particularly the impact on medicaid. Good morning, republican line. I am calling, first of all, i have a question. I am a john kasich republican. I supported him in the primary heavily. Point is this, the parties are there to be used. People who call themselves independent are really not anything. They are acting like consumers waiting for the parties to come to them. When you register to vote, which you do when you are 18yearsold, you pick a team. Shirts or skins. Then you work within that team to get the person to most closely represent you. Idea oh, and you vote twice every year. Host the question is, it looks like you are that 18yearold and you are about to choose your team. If you are a new voter or eligible to vote, the question is, why should i join a party . Caller because of the whole tenor. , with twoer election people basically playing it out with each other as the result of what the parties have chosen. What they have chosen amongst themselves. Then, we get a simple choice and 50. 001 of the voters in each state decide through the Electoral College who the choices. But if you are not there in the spring, then you are not there voting your interests within your own organization, then of course you are left out. And, the idea of this independence is too nice a word. The independents are not interested, not committed people. And, the idea that some states themoral systems caters to by allowing them to pick up a registration anytime they want to host in terms of the primary or whatever . Caller yes. This exacerbates the problem. Host bill in pittsburgh, lets hear from john kasich state from greenville, ohio. Caller good morning. I really disagree with that gentleman from pennsylvania. I have been on both sides of the fence as far as a democrat and as far as a republican and i think that both of these parties are just out of control. There is so much corruption running wild in both of these parties. It is just like now the republicans are trying to push Health Problem and it is a problem, because i really think that the democrats pushed the law through and now the republicans are trying to do the same thing. This actually needs a lot of thought behind it before you go do anything. And they had like seven or eight years to about this and i still said,it is like grandpa when he talked about this. It iss actually a actually called obama light. It would like to Say Something about Supreme Court judges, too. I wish these people would run for these positions and let the people decide. And they should have term limits on that, too, because you get complacent after so long. That i totally disagree with the man from pennsylvania. Host a week from today, those torings on neil gorsuch, take that night seat on the Supreme Court, get underway. Expect three or four days of hearings. Live coverage on the cspan network. Also later this week, looking at the hearings of previous Supreme Court justices going back a number of years. That will come up later this week on cspan. Check our website, cspan. Org information. We are asking you this morning about Political Parties and are they disintegrating . Coming up a bit out of the Republican Health care plan, john kasich, the press yesterday. Candidateresidential calling for democrats and republicans to Work Together otherwise he says theres a look. Republican he the Political Parties are disintegrating before our eyes. I believe that people see no purpose for clinical parties. You talk to people, there are more and more independents because of the squabbling. What is the risk to democrats . You cant turn your back on these people. The republicans, you need to invite democrats in. We are talking about lives. All of this consumption, who gains politically, life is short. If all you focus in on life is what is in it for me, you are a loser. A bigtime loser. This country better be careful we are not losing the soul of the country because we play politics and forget people who are in need. Host are the republican are the Political Parties disintegrating . Your screen. Ers on you are welcome to comment on twitter as well. Says, it seems that independent is increasingly becoming a refuge for people to radical for a Republican Party. Another says, we have the most in the house and the presidency. And another says, what does he come up with . Obamacare 2. 0. And, the Republican Party is nothing but a clown show that exploits people for money. Bend,hear from south indiana. Democrats line. High, it is funny that you should be talking about this. I saw a john kasich on tv yesterday and i had not even thought about it until you posed a question this morning. That may be true because things are just not getting done. While i was listening to everybody talk, i was looking at co i wasels are areing at this no labels co i wondered what happened to that. This gerrymandering situation the in indiana, the head of legislator of the republicans, he destroyed the bill for independent commission to redraw the districts. I mean, they just have it so in indiana and everything. So horrible. Were going to talk about getting and independent commission to redraw the goingcts but that is not to happen. So, yeah, something has to be done because things are just not getting done between the two parties. Cooperation. Yes. Something is going to have to be done because the parties are just they just do not want to Work Together and people are just getting really upset and i think that is a possibility, that the democrats and the republicans will probably become a thing of the past. Probably not in my lifetime but i would say within the next 50 years that maybe eight possibility. Host donald brings up the issue of gerrymandering and indiana. The issue is coming up in texas. A Court Decision on friday. You are the headlines from over the weekend. A panel of judges in san antonio has ruled that a handful of districts drawn by the Republican State Legislature in 2011 discriminated against black and hispanic voters and violated the Voting Rights act and the constitution. Latetriking down was made friday. It was in a longrunning and it lockedcase them in a legal battle for nearly six years. The democrats and civil rights lawyers accuse the majority white republican district of drawing the lines in ways that diluted the power of minority voters, accusations republicans the night. The next steps are unclear. Repeal. Likely to any repeal would go directly to the Supreme Court. In massachusetts, we hear from tina on the independent line. Welcome. Caller hello. That bill of about being unenrolled, here in massachusetts we have that. If you are in independent you re called unenrolled. That simply means you are not enrolled in the democrat or Republican Party, that you can independently but. Despite what someone said before, it independent voters are not flaky or whatever you call it. I have been an independent voter for 38 years regularly. For john kasich. Most everybody, especially the Younger Generation seems to trend independent. Person. Voting for the they dont want to be locked into a party because then they are stuck with whoever wins the primary, whether or not they even want that person but because they are republican or whatnot, they have to vote republican. Host would you agree there are structural advantages in Political Parties over independent parties . Even third parties like the green party . Democrats and republicans have builtin structural advantages over those parties. Caller that is the problem right there. If everybody took a boat in the senate and house it were independent and not forced to line up behind their party leade