Some Common Ground to governor. The only way things will happen in the congress if the democrats and republicans Work Together. Lynn jenkins of kansas. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] youre watching cspan2, live coverage. Reaction to the president s state of the union speech in just off the House Chamber where the president spoke. Some of of the issues he talked about, raising the minimum wage, new medicare reform, tax reform, he talked about the cybersecurity order that he issued today. He spent about half the speech talking about the economy, he also brought up voting reform and, of course, gun control measures and one other issue he brought up was the issue of a new war on poverty. And now joining us, one of the 84 new members of congress is tony car dane use of california. Whos seat did you take . They changed the lines around in california, and i put my name for a seat there that was no incumbent. So i was able to win outright. Here i am. What is your background . I well, i started off as an engineer and i went to owning my own business and joined the state legislature in california for six years. Been on the city council for ten of los angeles and now im a member of congress as of january of this year. What did the president say that resonated with you tonight . What i like the most about what he said when it came to Immigration Reform, he basically said lets get this done now. I think we have a window of opportunity of bipartisan cooperation for republicans and democrats by large agree we need to do something. Lets hope we can work on the working on out of the senate and in our house and get something comprehensive to the president right away. What was the experience like for you tonight . What time can did you go to the chamber to get our seat . About an hour and a half early. I got seat close enough to aisle i was able to shake his hand and say thank you, mr. Mr. President before he went to the podium to make the speech. Do the republicans have a chance of working the immigration issue positively . I think they do. I looked toward the republican side of the room, we sit on one side and the other. I noticed when it was about Immigration Reform, a handful more of republicans stood up than the normal amount that stood up. No, i have not. I have heard senator rubio talk about Immigration Reform perhaps more than any republican these days. And i think he has it wrong. He keeps insisting that, okay, lets allow them to become legal here. But he is not really talking about a true path to citizenship. A i dont think that is the spirit of our constitution or country of having secondclass citizens on a permanent basis in this country. We should have a path to citizenship and people need to learn english. We need to make sure that they have background checks and they get to the back of the line and et cetera. I think we can do it where it is fair and tough coming at the same time they have the hope of arriving there. What have you heard about the situation in the l. A. Area with the exsheriffs deputy vmax yes, well it appears, thank god come, that they actually found the person that was terrorizing the Southern California community. I dont know the exact result, i was in the chambers. It looks like they had him surrounded. They make sure that the least number of people suffered at the hands of this killer. It is such an unnatural occurrence, someone who is in excellent horseman, someone who actually killed people who were not directly in his line. So there was quite a bit of buzz that they actually catch this guy and hopefully they did that tonight. We have been talking with a new member of congress, Tony Cardenas of california, a democrat. As we continue talking with members of congress. Coming up next, a congressman from louisville, kentucky. John yarmuth is our guest. We will put you back on your spot here, sir. You have been to this rodeo before. How did this speech rang . I think in terms of a very cohesive narrative, this was the best i have seen. It was in the framework of what the government can properly and effectively do to build a middle ground. I was particularly excited to hear him talk about things like refinancing mortgages. Things that taxpayers can actually make money on, as he said, put 3000 on average to the average household budget, which will help the economy, raising minimum wage is very important. The emphasis on prek education. These are things that not only the government can do effectively and directly affect the economy and to help the middle class, but i was very impressed that he focused on the thing that the government could do best. Which implies that the government cant do everything. He met john yarmouth, a democrat of kentucky. Giving his Quick Reaction to the president s state of the union speech. We appreciate your time, sir. On the other side of the capitol, on the senate side, senator bob casey has just had reelection. This past year. A democrat of pennsylvania. Sir, i would like to start with your green ribbon. Pennsylvania is pretty much a prosecond amendment state, is not . It is. The ribbons are to commemorate the victims of the sandy hook and newtown elementary schools. We commemorated some of the first on the scene of the tragedy. I do think despite some of the divisions, positions on gun policy, people can come together on common sense things. Even as folks strongly support the second amendment, i think we can come together. Senator casey, what is the Economic Situation in pennsylvania right now . The president talked about the economy for about half of his speech. I am glad that he did. As much as it has improved over the last several years, we still have over a halfmillion people out of work. As long as i persists, we have to focus on a full recovery. We are creating jobs at a fast pace now. But not quite fast enough. We have a way to go vmax was the energy doing in pennsylvania . It has created tens of thousands of jobs in our state in the number of years. It will create tens of thousands more so we can have the job benefit, the energy benefit, as well as keeping our commitment, which is to protect clean air and protect the water. How would you describe the sense of this in the senate as opposed to the last congress . I think its better. I think we are through this election helps. But there are divisions and we have to come together to focus on the number one challenge and the number one obligation. Which is to come together on our fiscal challenges. I think that we can. But i do not underestimate the difficulty of it. Senator bob casey, democrat of pennsylvania. A very familiar pennsylvania political name. We appreciate your time this evening. We are live following alive following the president s state of the union speech in the House Chamber. This is statuary hall, for 50 years, this room we were in served as the house of representatives meeting place. 180721857. During that time, five president s were sworn in in this room. They were all sworn in. From the state of connecticut, firstterm senator richard blumenthal. Senator, we must start with the president s bringing up new town. I have to ask you about your pin. This is really a reminder of the grief and tragedy. The horrific pain that all of us in connecticut have suffered. I was very privileged to have as my guest, the first woman from newtown, the mayor of new town who has been inspirational to all of that community and even a. She has such strength and courage. The family and First Responders and the first elected woman. She is the face and voice of this tragedy. The victims, whether at tucson, virginia tech, and as was said, it is so compelling. This time it is different. And i think that struck a chord with everyone. Former attorney general of the state of connecticut, senator now. What measures have you seen the changes gun violence, reducing the number of guns on the street . There is no single factor that is attributed to gun violence or no simple solution. There is no prospect of getting it perfect and preventing all gun violence. As the president said so well, we were not sent here to be perfect, but to make a difference. There are measures that can and should avoid. Such as banning assault weapons and highcapacity magazines. The shooter in newtown 11 beautiful children. [inaudible] if there are fewer bullets in a magazine, it would help stop these kind of accidents. The assault weapons ban, stock purchases them, and of course, background checks for all firearms sales, not just for firearms. But also for ammunition sales. Senator blumenthal, one of your assignments puts you in the first real of the cybersecurity executive order that the president issued today. What are your initial thoughts about that . The president rightly emphasizes cybersecurity. Because the National Security of this nation is in trickle and so deeply involved in protecting major infrastructure. Our financial institutions, our stock markets. As well as our National Citizens from the kind of attack that are happening everyday. There is cyberwarfare. This is a bill that i helped draft. Last session but unfortunately failed to pass. I hope there will be a new law that provides for better defense and even offense against the kinds of cyberattacks. We have been talking with connecticuts senior senator, richard blumenthal. Still in his first term, this is live coverage of reaction to the president s state of the Union Address in statuary hall. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] as we continue our live coverage, getting reaction from members of congress to the president s state of the Union Address. You members of congress in the house, one of them defeated a wellknown member, allen west. Patrick purdy is a democrat from florida. Congressman, your first state of the union. Whats your impression, what is the issue that resonated with you . Im very happy with the speech tonight. You know, i like working together, what we need is common sense solutions. We need to get away from the partisanship in our country. Im glad the president talked about that quite a bit tonight. The overarching argument, the overarching theme that i like so much, they talk about solutions. He said heres a solution when it comes to things like education. We all know we need to improve education, so he talked about stem education, things like infrastructure, lets get public and private partnerships, the same thing with housing. He said lets look at a buildup on the floor that allows people to refinance their homes are historically low rates. Overall, thats what i like about the speech. What is the no labels remapped. It is a group of problems solvers that are willing to put problems aside and focus. We talk about job creation, reducing the national debt. Things like that. These are issues that we talk about on a daily basis. As putting aside the partisanship and getting over that. Really focusing on what needs to be done and looking at the longterm sustainability of our country. You have been in Congress Going on a month and a half. What issue do you think you could work with the republicans on . Well, i am here to solve big problems, that is why the voters elected me. I think what we need is a grand bargain. The president mention that mentioned that night. I was very happy to hear that. You know, right now we see sequesters, fiscal cliff, its almost laughable, its an embarrassment. I believe we need a real deal right now. Now is the time to do it. Anything the president said he found disagreeable . No, i want to look into some of the numbers. It was very clear when he said that all the proposals will not add a dime to the federal deficit. That is good, but he said that. I just want to see, i am a numbers guy. A cpa by training. I want to see at. Neither the emotion is a over, congressman, thank you so much for your time. 232 republicans, 230 democrats, and 84 new members of congress in the house of representatives in the 113th congress. Someone now in his fifth term is from texas, congressman green. How did this speech range with the other states of the union of the president had talked about. First, let me thank cspan for setting the chasm that seems to divide us, but it doesnt keep you from telling the truth and getting the truth out. Cspan does a great job. I felt compelled to say it. This is a great speech that the president gave. It had great value. He values education and he talked about how education will help us to train people for the jobs that are available now, so that they can take advantage of opportunities that are available. He values our friendship with our allies. He talked about how we will defend and stand with our ally, israel. He values the whole notion that children should receive a good start and we want to make sure that head start is there for our children. He values people which are our children and our seniors. These are the great programs and we have to protect them. Finally, i would like to say that our troops can do their job and we can bring them home. We dont have to have eternal wars. He wants to bring our troops home. The way he values jobs as indicated by the way he talked about infrastructure and the notion we can have road repairs and if we do it, we do it right here in the United States of america. You cannot outsource those jobs. This was a great speech when it comes to the things that americans value. Energy is a big issue in her hometown of houston. It is. He talked about our energy independence. How we have moved away dependence on foreign oil that we can generate right here in our country. In fact, we will start to export in the near future, natural gas. Texas is going to bounce and bloom again. Energy is going to be one of those things that the rest of the country will come back to the forefront what. Congressman, a little off topic question. Your governor is touring california right now are you trying to promote texas is a place to do business. What do you think about that . I think texas is a place to do business, but we have to get our wages. We tout the jobs that we have, but we want people to have good and decent jobs that can give them a living. The president talked about how you should not work fulltime in the richest country in the world and live below the poverty line. In texas, we have too many people who work fulltime and still stand in the welfare line. We have to change that. Also in texas, we have the most uninsured in the country. We want to make sure that people have good health care. In a country where if you are a bank robber and we should capture you, in the process if you are hurt, if you are a person on death row, if you are about to meet your maker next week and you get sick this week, we will give you aid and comfort and send you to meet your maker next week. We will give aid and comfort to the bank robber. If youre an enemy combatant, we will give you comfort. In the richest country in the world, we can give aid and comfort to a person on death row, the enemy combatant, we can give aid and comfort to good hardworking American People. We have to make sure that health care is available to all that. Not because you are wealthy. Health care cannot become wealth care. You are a child of god and you deserve health care. Al green, democrat of texas, currently in his fifth turn here in congress. Representing the houston area. We appreciate your time. As you can see, statuary hall is starting to empty out a little bit. Of course, if you like to see the president s speech, if youd like to see it again, or marco rubios response, or any of our coverage from the state of the union, you can go to cspan. Org and watch this all on mine. By the way, this conversation reacting to the present state of the Union AddressUnion Address in some of the issues that he raises, it will be continued tomorrow on the washington journal. It is on every morning, 7 00 a. M. Until 10 00 a. M. , 365 days per week on cspan. Thank you for being with us on capitol hill. Sequestration and acrosstheboard budget cuts is set to go into effect on march 1. The pentagon budget is expected to be cut to 47 billion over the past month. It is argued that these budget cuts would hurt military readiness. Secretary ashton carter, and representatives of each branch of the military have testified. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] good morning, everybody. The Committee Meets this morning to consider the impact of sequestration and a full year of continuing resolution on the department of defense. We welcome the deputy secretary of defense, ashton carter, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey, who is accompanied by with the following friends. Robert hale, chief of staff of the army, general ray odierno, vice chief of operations, mark ferguson, and general james amos, chief of staff of the air force general mark welch and chief of the National Guard bureau, general frank grabs. I would like to stop by thanking all of you. Please convey our thanks to the soldiers, airmen and marines at home and in harms way around the globe. They and their families deserve our utmost support. Some members of congress and commentators in the press have said that we should live sequestration or let it go into effect. It would be better to severely cut the budget them to work out a deficit reduction agreement that would require compromise. I could not disagree more. Sequestration is arbitrary and irrational. It would not only weaken our security, but as the secretary has said, it is not just defense, its childcare, food safety, law enforcement, airport safety. Now, sequestration in the yearlong continuing resolution going into effect, the impact on the department of defense will be devastating. For example, the army requested 36. 6 billion in its 2013 budget. Under a continuing resolution rules, if its only the fiscal year 2012 amount of 30. 6 billion. Sequestration would cut an additional 6 billion. It would only have 8 billion left to get through the rest of the fiscal year. And moreover, unexpectedly high operational demands that require as much as 6 billion of the remaining funds be spent on leaving the army with only 2 billion for domestic Operation Maintenance during the next seven months. It has budgeted for 20 billion. So it has 10 of what it needs for owen am during the next seven months. That is just one of hundreds of examples. We are going to hear today that the military services are already taking a