reviews the tax reform bill. 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3. wednesday, the senate health committee considers president pick's take to replay -- to replace tom price. wednesday the house takes up a bill requiring members of congress and staff to take anti-harassment and antidiscrimination training. live this week on the c-span networks, online at www.c-span.org, and with the free c-span radio app. >> earlier today housing secretary ben carson joint veterans affairs secretary to talk about efforts being made to end veteran homelessness. they announced a decrease in the amount of homeless vets, and said president trump is committed to continuing that trend. >> good morning, everybody. it is almost.

11:38. imd assistant -- i and the assistant secretary of veterans affairs. we spent time in this facility, and i can tell you we are extraordinarily proud of everything that has been put together to serve veterans and the broader homeless community. this building is about a year old, serves now over 60 veterans who were previously homeless. secretary carson and i asked about the waiting list here, and it's 409 because we still have 409 homeless veterans here in washington, d.c. across the country, that number is 40,000. and so we are committed to continue our efforts until we get every veteran off the streets to find a home such as this. what's so inspiring about what we saw today is this is truly

the model for working together. federal agencies like the department of housing and urban development and the department of veterans affairs, sharing resources and knowledge and putting together support so that groups such as community solutions and others can develop projects like this to serve veterans who are homeless and others who are homeless. and what we know is the reason why we've been able to reduce the number of homeless veterans across the country by over 50% now since 2010 is because of community efforts like this where where it's not only and in a and in and will and well federal agencies but in and are in your real this case state and the district of columbia as well. we heard about 50 all together pulling resources to make this a reality. it is these community based efforts that we know work and

that we have to continue to help support. both secretary carson and i and our agencies are firmly committed to continuing the work to make sure that we end veteran homelessness. so we have a lot more work to do, but the good news is we have found the formula that we think works. i just want to finally thank the -- not only the staff here, but the veterans themselves who this morning we had time to spend time and hear their stories, hear how important this facility is, how much they value it. actually, their gratitude for having a safe and nice place to be able to call home, which is so important and we think every american deserves that and absolutely we believe every veteran deserves that as soon as possible. but thanking the veterans for not only talking to us about their own experience, but showing us their apartments. we just had the chance to see a

beautiful apartment of mr. williams who was kind enough to show us his home. but what's also important, i think the message that we heard here is it's not just a home, but it's the sustainment efforts. the staff who help make sure that the veterans continue the get the help they need. the coordination of services, the medical care and everything that is so important. and to hear how much those services are valued, so putting together the continued efforts of hud and the department of veterans affairs i think makes us extremely proud of the efforts going on here. so i just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the department of veteran affairs and our

commitment for continuing to use this as a best practice to move forward across the country. i'm going to turn this over to my colleague dr. carson. mr. carson: thank you. today there are millions of americans who are going back to work after their thanksgiving, spending time with their families, being thankful for the many things that we have available to us in this country. and i'm sure there were many prayers for the health of our country and for the veterans who have made it possible for us to be free in this country. and we should be grateful to the veterans, not only on veterans day or thanksgiving, but every day of the year because 1% of our population protects the other 99%. and when you think about what they've allowed us to be able to

do, we should be willing to go the extra mile to make sure they are taken care of. it was wonderful today having an opportunity to meet with four veterans to hear their stories, to see the kind of things that they have gone through. and it's wonderful that a facility like this exists and the gratitude they express not only for the facility but for the individuals who have dedicated their lives to improving life for the veterans, it makes all the difference in the world. you know, we tend to be a very giving people. we're the first ones in the line when there's a disaster someone -- somewhere else in the world. we ought to be the first ones in the line when there's a disaster of one of our veterans also. they're the ones who really give us the ability to do what we do.

you know, a facility like this comes to pass because of public-private partnerships and the ability of the federal government, of the agencies like the veterans administration and hud to work with cities, with nonprofits, with faith-based organizations, with a host of people who are actually concerned about their fellow man. and it's one of the really wonderful things seeing this facility and several others i've seen around the country when the local community gets invested in what's going on, not only in the people, but in the facility itself. and that way they make sure that it is maintained. the old paradigm the government would ride in on a white horse with a big bucket of money and say build this facility for this

group and ride away. that didn't work. but when you get buy-in from the rest of the community, i think that makes a huge difference. also, this facility is a good example of how the low-income housing tax credit can be used to great avail for the public good. i've been assured that the low- income housing tax credit is going to be maintained in the new tax bill, because i think people from both sides of the aisle recognize how critical it is for us to provide the stimulus and incentive so that there are win-win situations presented throughout our society. it makes all the difference in the world. now, we still have a lot of work to do. every night there are 40,000 veterans in shelters and on the

streets. and we need to recognize that when people are out there, when they're under a bridge, when they're not being taken care of, there's a strong likelihood that sometime in the course of that year they're going to wind up in the emergency room, frequently being admitted. a week's admission costs more than a year of shelter in an appropriate setting. we need to be thinking about that. so housing first is a great concept, getting them off the street. taking care of them costs less money than leaving them on the street. but housing, second, is also important which means you diagnose the reason they're in that condition. and housing, third, is also important, because you fix it. that's what true compassion is, empowering and enabling our fellow americans just as they empowered and enabled us through the sacrifices that they have made.

i want to give a big thank you to secretary shulkin who has been a real warrior in this area and a real stalwart to make sure these programs continue and expand. and also to everyone working at conway house, i'm very grateful for what you've been doing. i know this is going to act as a template to help others recognize how this is done. and there are so many cities that are starting to declare an end to homelessness for veterans and in many cases for everybody. it started out as just some of the smaller municipalities and cities. but recently pittsburgh and atlanta within the last couple weeks. that i think this is the beginning of something great. i do believe in this country we have the ability to end homelessness for veterans and

for the rest of our population if we're willing to put forth the kind of effort that we've seen here today. thank you. [applause] >> questions? >> i hope you do not mind. you talk about how you want to continue to use this type of project to address the 40,000 homeless veterans still out there. but the trump administration has called for cutting back home funding which was used to fund this program and also hasn't called for new cash vouchers. how are you going to be able to continue this type of project? mr. carson: as far as the hud vouchers it's not because , criticism of the program. it's because we have excess vouchers left over.

we still have quite a few that haven't been used. what we're looking at now are ways to be able to transfer those vouchers around to places where they're needed so they're more evenly distributed. as far as the cuts in the home program and things like that are concerned, i think the objection has been the inefficiencies in the program, not the good things that are accomplished through the programs. we're not process of reworking a lot of that right now. >> i'll add to that. where are you from? >> npr. >> great. if you take a look at the president's budget for 2018 for the department of veteran affairs, there are significant increases in the president's commitment to ending veteran homelessness. so those are facts that are out there. so the president's budget supports not only continuing what we're doing, but actually accelerating and putting more resources and more dollars into

the 2018 budget than in 2017. >> but as far as housing, is there going to be enough funding to have more projects like this? mr. carson: as i mentioned, the real key here is a new paradigm. the old paradigm doesn't work with the government just dumping money on problems. public-private partnerships i've -- the new paradigm with public-private partnerships i've seen it very effective across the nation and creating wonderful communities. i was in atlanta about a month ago, and one of the worst communities historically in terms of education, in terms of crime has been turned into a net salute jim. all kinds of people wanting to be there. this school system which has been performing at the lowest level is now at the highest level. you know, those are the kinds of things that can happen when we

bring in lots of resources, create win-win situations, get the private sector involved. we just have to get away from the ideal that the only solution to our problems is government dumping money on it.... -- on it. >> you know, i would also say, and other people, we're not in competition with npr, we encouraged that but we have , housed over 480,000 veterans and their families in the program that the department of veteran affairs has done since it has started in 2010. this is a successful program. we want to continue this. that's why we're really pleased to see the additional commitment to funding for this. so we have 40,000 more to go, but what we know is, and that's why we love this model so much, i think, as secretary carson is saying, this is not just the federal government. we're a piece of it, and i think it couldn't continue without our involvement and v.a.'s social workers and others who are here today.

but this is that public-private partnership that he's talking about. and this wouldn't have happened without the district of columbia and without private resources, but this is such a great model. we want to do more of this. this is really what we want to see for the other 40,000, but we know that if it's not a sustained effort, that this will just go backwards. so this is probably a lifelong effort that we're committing to. >> any other media inquiries? ok. >> i have a comment. >> sure. >> you mentioned 40,000 veterans. 40,000 veterans in the streets. and that's pretty alarming, but a lot of it may have to do with something on the secrecy level where they're using electronic gadgets, secret gadgets on

people's minds, brain waves in the middle of the night and pushing them out in the street also. microwaves. sonic waves. a case in point would be the cuban diplomatic crisis where they said the tactics were not cuban. they were others. it's in apartment buildings, motels, hotels, houses, and from the east and west coast. and not just here -- >> just for the media, sorry. anybody else? thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> i want to say, you have to give ex-president obama credit because he started this program. he helped me to achieve where i'm at.

because i was homeless. you know, and i am a u.s. vet. i went to cwp program for six months and a work permit at the v.a. i have to thank president obama -- mr. carson: thank you for bringing that up. i have said all along, we're all in this together. and we work together. things that have happened in the past are very good building blocks. we keep building on them. the whole concept of, you know, the division that's occurred and we cannot give credit to the other side, that's a bunch of garbage. [indiscernible]

>> c-span's "washington journal," live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. tomorrow, a nuclear expert talks about the united states' nuclear arsenal. watch "washington journal," live at 7:00 eastern tuesday morning. join the discussion. >> tomorrow the senate banking committee holds a hearing for jerome powell. watch 10:00 a.m. eastern. later, the budget committee

reformers tax legislation that would include opening up the arctic wildlife area for gas and oil drilling. p.m. onesday: 2:30 c-span3. listen on the free c-span radio app. >> c-span buses traveling across the country on our 50 capitals tour. we recently stopped in baton rouge, louisiana, asking folks will what is the most important issue in their state. >> the number one issue continues to be flood recovery. in baton rouge we had a historic flood in 2016. my citizens in my district right now are forced to do with issues regarding sba loans. the government considers those loans to be a duplication of benefits. right now we have trouble getting those families that

dollars for them to conduct -- to recover, because under the program now they have to deduct the monthly they receive under the sba loans. we are working with our congressional delegation, but it is a tough issue in our community. >> a most important state issue is forced restoration. forest restoration. we are losing a football field of land per hour, and i would like our state to focus on restoring our coastlines so future generations can the. the most pressing issue we will face and one we are working on and have been since the conclusion of our sessions this past year has been our fiscal budget situation in louisiana. not uncommon with a lot of other states. i think ours is a little unique.

a good bit of what we face in of revenuee loss in the form of taxes that will expire in june of 2018. to be able to find the solutions for that, on the revenue side and the spending side, and what we will be working fall, and hopefully coming up with solutions for 2018. >> voices from the states, on c-span. >> french president emmanuel elimination ofhe violence for women day. measures histhe government will introduce in 2018 to combat violence against women, including fostering better awareness of gender equality in