tv State of the Union CNN December 22, 2013 6:00am-7:01am PST
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nation tomorrow. >> something tells me nothing is going to stop the green bay fans from going. >> no. they are tough, tough people. >> they will be there. >> jennifer grey, thank you. thank you so much for being part of our sunday. >> i feel like all i have left is a wave. my voice is shot. >> you made it through. >> "state of the union with candy crowley" starts now. >> dozens of americans trapped inside and increasingly unstable south sudan. and imbalance at the nsa, security versus privacy. today a panel the president appointed tells him to reign in the national security agency. >> whatever benefits the configuration of this program may have may be outweighed by the concerns that people have on this potential abuse. there may be another way of skinning the cat. >> he talked to the democrat joe mansion about that. the future for obama care and harry reid's senate leadership. and --
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>> we actually have more in common that we can work together on than maybe we previously thought. >> they're younger than most members of congress and impatient. aaron shot and democrat, the future caucus looking to shake up business as usual. plus, the authors of this town collision 2012. double down and breakout talk to us about washington politics and look into their crystal balls. then a bonus section, a prominent critic of russian president putin is pardoned by putin and now sits down with an exclusive with our reporter. this is "state of the union." good morning. three dozen americans working for the united nations are trapped in the troubled south sudan. evacuation efforts failed saturday when gunmen fired on three u.s. military aircraft and wounded four service members. we have new developments in the last few minutes. i want to bring in cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara star. we should say, barbara, as far
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as we know those four service people with in stable condition. so let me move you on to what's happening in efforts to kind of rescue those folks still in the sudan. >> good morning, candy. well, at this hour cnn has learned the u.s. military is working on an option to go back in to this very dangerous area and try once again to evacuate 20 to 30 americans after the failed attempt yesterday when their aircraft were fired on. this is an option that they are working on after yesterday's events. it's likely to require briefing president obama before the troops go back in. they're basically two options on the table right now. either you send the u.s. military back in to get them or you have united nations use its helicopters to bring the americans out. the good news is there have been a number of u.n. helicopter flights in recent hours evacu e evacuating other aid workers. they made it out safely. but i think it's fair to say the
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military would like another chance to do this. u.s. special forces don't take kindly to being fired on and they want to get the job done. >> this has been called an evacuation, not a rescue. how much immediate danger are the americans in? >> just think about what happened yesterday. three aircraft fired upon. the pilots have to fly 500 miles back to the nearest landing strip. they have bullets in the fuselage. they have wounded troops onboard. very dangerous. >> barbara star, thank you so much. he has bucked his party as many times as he backed it. in the process made friends on both sides of the aisle. earlier i spoke with west virginia senator. >> i want to start out with the nsa. it made news this week, at least a panel reviewing what it did. what do you make of the advisory panel recommendations? >> the thing wez need to do in this country which is our responsibility, especially as elected officials and government as a whole is how do we protect
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the privacies of each and every american? but also protect the security of our country? there's a fine balance there. so i'm open to listen to all the recommendations that has come out to see if we can improve upon that. without infringing on my rights and my freedoms and my privacy. but also i've got to give a little bit as i understand. i remember the days i used to walk on an airplane without any scrutiny, without any security whatsoever. those days have past. you know what? i still fly. >> do you think that the program -- the data program is getting most, a collection of what appears to be most of if not all of the phone calls made here in the u.s.? and it tells you like where it was placed, who placed it, how long it ran, where the call went to, is that officer the line as far as you're concerned? >> you know, we always heard as a child growing up and as we have different phases of our
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life that big brother is watching you. and now we found out that true brother is truly watching you. >> we had a district court judge opinion earlier in the week in which he wrote about this collection. i have serious doubts about the edge ethiccy in the case of terrorism. then we get the report out over the next couple days. they said our review suggests that information contributed to terrorist investigations by the use of section 215 telephoning metadata was not essential to obtaining time sensitive investigations. it just sort of sounds to me like they don't really need it and yet it's the most intrusive thing. >> right. i that i what we'll do with that panel's recommendation is be able to double down and lack and see what is the necessity? what is safety? what are we willing to give up? and what is unnecessary for
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someone to have that information? i think we're getting to that point. you're going to find backing off some, make something changes that will keep us secure and safe and also not intruding what we have been. >> i want to turn you now to obamacare. do you have any concerns at all that this system, i'm not talking about the commuputer an the glitches whatever you want to call it, next year when this goes into force, are you worried that there will be a meltdown of the system that it will just skyrocket everybody's premiums. it won't deliver the care it's promised? >> my concern was this. when you have a country the size of the united states of america that spends more than any other nation on earth per capita, i think we're $8600 for every man, woman and child on health care, and that's double almost or close, i think finland is the closest w that being said and ranked 43rd in the well, something's wrong. we have to do better. is this the right thing? probably not.
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is it a step moving it? yes, we're moving the ball for it. i've only asked for one thing. i said i'm not worried about the glitches, computer glitches. we'll fix that sooner or laterment i'm wo latermelater. i'm worried about having the product that market will buy. with that being said, we introduced a bill. the only bipartisan bill that says why don't you wait basically before we put any crimes or fines until january 1, 2015. this will be a transitional year. to find out where our glitches are and our little nuances we have to work for and find out if the market can produce the products that we need to keep this healthy. >> do you think at the end of the day we will look at this system when the administration tells us like who signed up and who hasn't signed up that it's going to give the insurance companies what they need to make this work? >> well here's at the end of the day, if it's so much more expensive than what we anticipated and that the coverage is not as good as what we've had, you got a complete
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meltdown with that time. so this transitional year gives you a chance to adjust the products to the market. and to see if the market will absorb and buy the product. you can't tell someone give me all your vitals and then i'll let you shop. >> in other words, they have to say here's all this information about me. and then you have to buy something? >> are they willing to basically come to the realization this is all america is willing to pay and this is what they're willing to pay and are they getting best product? don't say this is what you got to buy whether you like it or not and you're going to pay more than you think you were. i think that's where we are. so i'd like to say, can you move the ball forward? can i get more people insured? can i get more people healthier? do i have to have people in jeopardy of one catastrophic illness into bankruptcy. those are worthy goals to get rid of and move to a healthier populous for a healthy workforce. >> do you think this falls on its own weight? >> the cost becomes more than we can absorb, absolutely.
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>> let me turn you to gun control. do you think there's any chance going into an election year, as you know, that there can be major form of gun control legislation before the end of next year? >> you know, this has been a challenging year. you would think after the one year since we've -- the newtown horrific tragedy that happened there, but the bottom line is i think we looked at this coming from gun states, gun culture states, gun owners ourselves who really will do all we can to protect the second amendment that every law abiding gun owner will protect. with that being said, the people that basically are law abiding gun owners and understand gun culture, they weren't offended by saying if you go to a commercial transaction that makes sense to go ahead and find out is that person that wants to buy your gun a criminal? what we found out is that people just didn't trust government that they were going to stop there. they said hey joe, we're okay with the bill. we like the bill. the bill is not bad at all. we can live with that.
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but we just don't trust government stopping and doing what we say we're going to do. >> do you think that anything will get past next year? >> i'm hopeful. >> i know you are. what do you think will happen? >> right now, you know the makeup of the senate. we have 55 democrats. i think all 55 would consider that. i know we had a few that did not. hopefully they reconsider. i don't know their position. i'm not going to nors force anybody. they can v. to go back home and explain. so it's going to be difficult to get the extra votes we need. i'll be honest. >> harry reid said recently he wants to run for re-election in 2016 and he wants to remain majority leader. how do you think he's done? grade him for me. >> harry is a nice person. he's been very cordial to me. we disagree on many things, as you know. but we do it in respectful way. i think everybody has to look and see what results and successes you had and where you
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think you are and could have done better and improve upon that and make decisions if you still have a good fight new. i respect that. i think he'll make those decisions. >> how do you think he's done when you look at his leadership style and where he's taken the senate? >> well, you know, we all have different styles. i would like to see more of an engaging from him and the majority leader from that standpoint and put differences aside, put politics aside. >> you mean mcconnell? >> yes. majority leader, senator mcconnell. and sometimes if that doesn't work, you follow-through. if it's not jolly, you have to question why and who and see if you can make amends and make it better. i always pray that harry tries to reach out. i think he will. and try to make amends and try to move forward for the sake of our country and the sake of the senate. >> when i talk to democrats, they send to say to criticize the president for his lack of reaching out to senate members to house members, what you would say your relationship is like
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with him? >> i would say that mine is probably like the majority of senators and especially democrats up there. everybody has a different style again as we've said. and that's just not in the president's nature. to pal around and, you know, the gregarious type of personality that is like bill clinton. two different people. >> does it hurt the country's business? >> well, it makes it more difficult. it's hard to say no to a friend. when you build that relationship and that friendship, you're looking for ways to try to work things out and find a compromise and that friendship means an awful lot. when you don't build the personal relationships, it's pretty easy for a person to say well let me think about it and not go that extra effort. so everybody has a different style. i just -- i love to be around people. i love to talk to people. i'm going to find out if we disagree what do we agree on? i know what we disagree on. and if we agree on something, is
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that strong enough to build something off it? how do we move further? i always looked at it and it's not about democrat or republican. being a democrat in west virginia, i took an oath as governor to serve all the people, not just the democrats or those who voted for me. everybody. >> as you know, not a lot of that happens on capitol hill. >> i know. i keep trying. i keep saying if i can bring little west virginia common sense and let them see how we do things, maybe it will help. >> when you look at this honestly and look at the legislative agenda, whether it's gun control, whether it's mental health, when you look at immigration reform and the other things climate clafrpg is another thing that the president pushed, realistically speaking, what is going to happen next year? >> i would ask the president to evaluate what his legacy would be and what he would want it to be. >> pretty much obamacare, is it not? >> i would like for the last three years to get our financial house in order. to really take it upon and him to grab this and say listen, no matter what we talk about, no matter what our personal agenda
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may be and he has a very robust agenda, none of it will happen unless can you afford to pay for it. and that bother ms me right now because we have not as a nation taken the debt of this nation and the financial condition of this country as serious as we should. and there's going to be a crash sooner or later. i don't want to hit the wall if i can avoid it. and that's what i keep saying. all of these things are noble causes. he and i differ on his whole energy or lack what i consider lack of energy. but i want to work in the most productive manner. i think you have to have an all energy policy. use the resources. education is challenging. how are we going to have the workforce to compete in the 21st century when other countries are outeducating us? >> you know how long people want a big grand bargain. it seems impossible in this atmosphere. you overlay an election year. it makes it harder. minimum wage, do you think that might pass next year? >> i would think if they look at
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the disparity that we have in this country and how far we're getting apart, something has to be changed. i think the strongest argument, i think the wage is $1.60 in 1968. we would be at over $10, well over $10. but with that being said, i think that there are so many people now because we lost so many of the good jobs. doesn't that tell you need to change your tax laws and corporate laws that allows corporations that sell off shore and not pay taxes, take jobs off shore but use our -- use this consumer market to sell in? things need to change. >> realistically speaking, try to take your democrat hat off here and see just being an analyst for a moment. do you think that obamacare will be a major factor in determining the success of democrats in 2014? >> it's weighing heavy on that. i'm very close to our democrats who are up right now. and even the republicans who are
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my friends. they're using that. they think that's a great advantage they have. the democrats right now are feeling the weight of it. it needs to turn around. we need to show we're moving in a healthy, well more -- situation within our society. if it doesn't happen, if it becomes such a burden, if the small businesses have a burden, if now we have a large employer kicking in and their plans are changing and you know all of our working unions are having some challenges, if all that doesn't come together, that's why i keep saying that's why we need that transitional year. sit down and work through it. don't force it. >> if that does not happen in the way you sort of envision or outline it for us, do you think that the democrats will lose the senate? >> i'm not going to say i think we would lose. it's going to be extremely challenging. we have some very good people who are truly there, i believe, for the right reason. they're going to be challenged for the wrong reason. >> senator joe mansion, thank you so much for joining us.
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joining me around the table, dan balls from "the washington post" and author of "collision 2012." mark leeb owe visits. author of "this town." mark halpern, senior political analyst and "time" magazine co-author of "double down." and author of breakout, newt gingrich. gentlemen, we invited you on because we thought when people were looking for last minute christmas gifts you got a political junky in the house, go for it. get all four. that's right, a four back. i want to start off.
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the president had the post mort yum friday. want to play you something he said in answer to the question has this been the worst year of his presidency. here is part of what he said. >> what i've been focused on each and every day is are we moving the ball in helping the american people, families have more opportunity and have a little more security to feel as if they work hard they can get ahead? >> look at the year ahead for president obama. he said had to be a good year. had to get things done. is that going to happen? can he climb out of this hole? >> it's going to be difficult. he has perhaps one thing going for him which is that the economy is getting better. and if people feel better about the economy, they may feel better about the president. but he still got to solve the health care problem. he still got to find a way to get more things done in congress. and we don't know whether he's got a strategy to do that. >> here are the poll numbers. for right now in december, how
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is the president handling his job? 41% approve. 56% disapprove. i want to show you the trajectory over the course of the year. that's something that started out at 5 a% in january. now 41%. what happened? >> mostly health care. but also washington hasn't been working. also this year we had a lot of dysfunction. the president is in charge of -- right then, you know, i write about the election, the last election. 2011 was a pretty bad year for the president, too. now they call it the good old days. his decision at the end of 2011 was to basically say i'm going to beat up the republican party and mitt romney and get elected. the fever will break and we can work together. i think he faces a real choice. one of the big dilemmas is does he try win the midterm by beating up election or does he risk alienating people by going tore big deals? >> right.
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how much -- your book, sort of a probably dropped advertisement to washington for some time. just because, you know, because it is a town with peculiar habits. it can be -- it's the insiders versus everybody else. how much of the president's problems that we're talking about now is due to the way this town works? >> i think obviously, i mean, washington is a very, very, very powerful, you know, way to influence people and to change cultures. it's much easier to talk and campaign structure about changing and being hopeful than it is in reality. i think, you know, if you were to distill his political issues, it's obviously with republicans on the hill right now. and there has been really very little common ground and very little work done. >> is there any way to beat this system? >> oh, sure. look, first of all, presidents can and do recover. ronald reagan -- >> can this one? >> sure.
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of course he can. any president, it's like a pitcher who is 3-2. the pitcher knows what ez is going to throw. he always has a slight advantage. you take up an hour of time. you're in charge. you look presidential. what he needs to do is go to hawaii and stop. and just let the last few years bubble up in his head and try to figure out three or four big things, not small things, how is he going to fix obamacare? who is going to really be the czar who has real power and fixes it? he is or is he not going to reach out to the republicans and actually try to achieve legislative things? and what are the two or three large visionary goals around which the nation, not just democrats, but the nation could rally so he can have a states o the union that has real meaning? if he can solve those three, he's back in the game by february. >> it's a huge if. we saw a challenge in that news conference. we knew it was coming. it was the are you going to
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negotiate over the debt ceiling? no. and so you already see the setup for an election year that is starting out pretty much how this year started out. with the added overlay. >> well, i mean, what the speaker said is important. but you go back two years, he had bounced back in the polls after the shah lacking in 2010 by early 2011. and then it went south for him. i think the question for him, they know how to work the first 60 days of the year. the question is do they know how to work the rest of the year? >> is the man they saw in the campaign the same guy who is at the press conference friday? >> i think personally he's the same person. i think politically he's a positive way. i think politically he's the same person in a way that i think held him back which is he is still very opaque. is he a flaming liberal as critics on the right say? is he someone who is more of a post partisan problem solver?
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and i think the speaker's list of what the president needs to do is so good, he should consider working in the white house for him. the biggest thing to me is he needs big nationals, not something democratic. but big nationals. the country has a lot of needs right now. people across the country regardless of party, 60%, 70% agree with. >> as you sort of implied in your first answer, at some level that will put him at odds with his own party. he wants to wonder where the party is hitting the republicans. >> i think in an election year coming up he lay the groundwork a little bit in the press conference. immigration might be the one issue he seems to be moving towards. if not, even if there is not a -- i think there is a national consensus to some degree, certainly in washington. this something republicans have shown their willing to talk about, not willing to deal with.
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>> whether we return, our question, can a president with the approval rating of only 41% of the public keep 51% of the senate? call or click today. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. open to innovation. open to ambition.
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we are back with our panel. i have to look at max baucus coming over to be the ambassador. he is leaving early. does that say anything to new so far as how worried the administration should be of keeping control of the senate? >> i think the democrats have been tactically brilliant for two elections in a row. they figure out the one or two races they have to win to upset everybody's expectations. this is a brilliant strategic move. they are a good party. and they know what they have to do to keep the senate. so this is increasing their chances in montana. and they increase the chances in
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louisiana. one of the reasons the president is going to take a dive and accept an iran yan sactions bill is because he has too many democrats that will help pass a bill like that. >> the tactical strength of the democrats means i think they keep the senate unless there is a national wave. if there is a national wave and people are still unhappy with obamacare, i think all the tactics in the world will be overwhelming and they will lose the senate or come close to it. >> i don't dispute thatment obviously the republicans have an opportunity. and because there are so many red states the democrats have to defend, very good opportunity. but in the end the republicans have to beat a series of incumbents. these are not open seats. that's going to be the challenge. >> mark, wabt to switch you really quickly. before i turn to 2016, because you wrote an article in -- the cover story of "the new york times" magazine today. on john mccain. so my question to you is how
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would you describe john mccain 2013? >> once again, john mccain is another crowded aisle which he considers himself right in the middle of the battle for the soul of the republican party, certainly in the senate against the ted cruzs and mike lees. as a very vocal critic, you know, he seems like he is ever injured by 2008, he's back and deciding whether to run for election again. i think it will be fun to watch. >> republicans don't have someone that's kind of the head of the republican party. does john mccain or m.i.t. romney factor into the elections or is this a free for all? >> i think it's a free for all. my personal bias is we'll nominate a governor. i think they have huge advantages. they're actually doing something, not just talking.
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i don't think we'll have a nominee until around april. i think we'll coalesce rapidly at that point. i do think the president has some rouge, for all their tactical moves, the democrats have huge strategic structural problems. they're losing ground every week. they're looking at reality and it's not very good. they have to make things work. if they don't make things work, then this party takes a beating. because in the end their party will go down with them. >> let me go aren't table here for the last question. who you have already started to take note who you think you might be following on your top two folks you'll be following into iowa and new hampshire on the republican and democratic side? who do you think will be on the show the most?
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>> actually governor christie from new jersey. i think he's on everybody's list. after that, i think you've got to pay attention. i don't think there is any other one other. nobody has defined that space so effectively in 2013 that you have to say this is the one or these are the two people. there are a handful of people that you have to pay attention to. >> i think ted cruz will be interesting. >> he is interesting and will be interesting. i think that the party will coalesce pretty early around christie type person on maybe in the associated with the establishment. i also think that the right will probably crystallize again up around one or two whether it is cruz or scott walker or whoever. >> i have a lot of interest in people. my big four are governor christie, jeb bush, paul ryan and mike huck aby. factoring in half of them or
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more may not run. >> jeb bush is always interesting to me. just hard to figure bl he's got the fire for it. >> whether he thinks it's practical. he is a pretty practical guy. i would add to that john kasich. i would add scott walker who wants to run as a national base. and may surprise you, i have rick perry. perry is a dramatically better politician than his performance in '12. he is serious about this. i have almost no doubt he wants to run. he's not going back to iowa for fun. i think you can imagine a perry-christie fight that will be a very interesting choice for republican party. >> so back this way. do we just say hillary clinton and be done with it on the democratic side? >> i said hillary clinton in 2007 and i was totally wrong. i clung to hillary all the way until april. trying to explain why -- >> are you stlil? >> i want to go back. i'm not going to back off. i think hillary is -- if she runs, she is the inevitable nominee. >> i agree. i'm not sure she will run.
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i think she may decide she doesn't want to spend the rest of her professional life doing this thing. >> and losing perhaps. >> perhaps. >> i think -- i mean i think if she runs, she is the front-runner. i think there is early prefatigue setting in. this headache factor where if she starts behaving politically, there is an immediate danger. >> there is probably some question as to whether she hasn't started already. >> i think everybody thinks she has started and she has to say no at this point for people to believe otherwise. but she is, you know, she begins this cycle in even better shape than she began the cycle in which she lost. >> thank you all so much. all right. last minute christmas shoppers. collision 2012, dan bals, "this town," "double down" and "breakout." thank you all so much. when we return, the millennials in congress say it's time for a
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new approach to getting things done on capitol hill. we're not willing to sit around and wait for another 20 or 30 years to be in a position of seniority and to actually be able to do things. ya know, with new fedex one rate you can fill that box and pay one flat rate. how naughty was he? oh boy... [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.
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for once in your life you sound very pleasant. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. free fico® credit score. get the it card at discover.com. there are some members of congress who don't want to spend decades on capitol hill before getting some say in getting something done. earlier i talked with the leaders of the future caucus. joining me now republican congressman aaron shock of illinois and congresswoman casey gabert of hawaii. from the millennial caucus. so first can we describe
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millennials as 80s and 90s born? is that how you would -- >> yeah. late 70s. >> take some 7 o's, too? >> depends who you ask. >> okay. so younger than the current power structure, let's say, in most of it in d.c. and your purpose is to take on millennial issues? >> it's real dwroi change the focus in washington, d.c., from the here and now three months, six months battles that we seem to too often get involved in. and really focus on what are the longer term challenges that we need to tackle? what i got elected to congress five years ago, i was one of four under the age of 40 of the 435. in january of this year, we had 40 members of congress under the age of 40, 20 republicans and 20 democrats. and it was from that that we formed a friendship and she got elected to congress and recognize that a lot of the younger members are much less i had logically strident. they are much more ambitious by nature because they got here
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young age and they're much more impatient about solving america's problems. >> even as your numbers were getting bigger, what we're really seeing in the total picture is much more partisanship, much more bickering. >> really what we have found just from getting to know each other was a commonality from a generational perspective on how we can get results. recognizing that the partisanship is at the highest now. members who have been here for 20, 30, 40 years saying this has never been as bad before as it is now. and seeing between as we talk to each other, what can we do about this? we're not willing to sit around and wait for another 20 or 30 years to be in a position of seniority and to actually be able to deal with it. how do we find of create the pressure points both from within as well as engaging people from industry and the private sector and the community and students and so on and so forth to be able to start to try to move forward on issues that are more long ranging in their impact than the way things have been
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done. >> why do you bring to the table anything different than what we've seen now? >> here's why. because right now our leadership on both sides of the aisle, both chambers, are a bit challenged at being leaders. because they're so concerned about their ideological faces. both democrat and republican leaders right now are worried about being right flanked and left flanked out by their respective basis. so they're afraid to be what the title says which is a leader. i believe that if we can bring together 20, 30, 40 members of congress behind an initiative, it provides the cover to allow a john boehner and nancy pel osi and harry reid to actually become lead erdz, to be able to stick their necks out and embrace it. >> in large part, leaders become leaders because they have the most people in their party elected. so that's what drives this. you can't be in the leadership position unless your party has the most people in the senate or in the house. the politics are always going to be there.
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that's a fact. and it's a reality of the system that we have as well as the ideologies and our parties represent the diverse take cross the country bhachlt we're trying to accomplish is to provide a platform and to grow a community of people who are bulling a relationship based on trust, based on respect and understanding. we may have different approaches on how to tackle some of these very challenging issues that we haven't dealt with yet as a country and building those relationships and putting these things forward so that others can gather around them. >> let me ask you about millennials in general. why is it that you think we're seeing signs that younger people, for instance, are not signing up for the affordable care act which could doom it? we heard people talk about the young invincibles. and i think it's just a matter of where people are in their lives to say okay, you know i'm healthy now. maybe i don't need as much of a health care plan as other people. but i think when you look across the board at some of the challenges that we have, that deal with the affordable care
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act but also deal with a whole slew of other issues and how people are disengaged with the process now, it comes from a lack of trust and a very, very clear cynicism and frustration with government as a whole. >> with the passage of the affordable care act, there's a provision called community rating which means that no longer are young people paying for their liability to the system. they're paying for their liability of the system plus a portion of their father or grandfather's cost to the system which means that by virtue of the aca, young people's health insurance is more expensive than they were before. so if you think about it, young people didn't want to buy insurance before, now it's more expensive than ut was before. the penalty of noncompliance is very, very inexpensive. $100. so, you know, no matter the sales pitch, no matter what rock star you get involved, it's going to be hard to convince young people to part with more and more of their money. >> i imagine if i had this discussion with harry reid and
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john boehner when they were in their 20s, 30s that they would have said the same thing. >> you're not looking at the next john boehner or harry reid. let me stha, though. the deal that was struck between paul ryan and patty murray could never have been trodded out by john boehner or harry reid if first those two budget chairman had not agreed and the budget conferrees not agreed. what i mean fwha is had there not already been a coalition, a group of people already embra embracing that field, if john boehner or harry reid did that on their own, it never would have passed. it requires sometimes the rank and file or folks further down the leadership ladder to bring forward thoughtful ideas and build momentum before we ultimately get the leaders to embrace it and change to happen. >> congressman aaron shock, tulsy gabert, thank you. >> happy new year. >> thank you. a prominent critic of
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vladimir putin is free after years in prison and speaking out to our reporter. her xplexclusive interview withm on "state of the union" much that's next. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and estimates for how much i'll pay. that helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. i don't like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.
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>> it's a long way from his last known address which was on russia's northwestfrontier. we will not go back to russia as long as a financial claim hangs over his head. he's not admitted guilt. he's not going into politics. he wants to help build russian society. we spoke about what it was like to be free, what it was like to be in prison and how russia and the world has changed in those ten years. what was prison like? that's what i want to understand first. what was it like living in prison? what were fellow inmates like? >> translator: big barracks where there could be 50 or 100
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people in one room. nothing good. >> were you worried? was there -- in many prisons around the world there is violence between inmates or violence from warders to inmates. you were stabbed with a knife? >> translator: i was stabbed with a knife once. when i was stabbed with a knife, i was lucky. it just -- he tried to get to my eye but got my nose. as a result, the dentist who was there was someone who was also a plastic surgeon and also carried out an operation on me which means it was virtually not noticeable. >> was there a deal for your release? did president putin or his people say on this condition we will release you? were there any conditions laid?
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>> translator: it's rather the reverse. mr. putin on a number of times publicly said that he was ready to consider the question of my pardoning. i had say i was guilty for that. that was an absolutely unacceptable condition for me. >> so you have not admitted any guilt? >> translator: the achievement this time was that mr. putin did not make any conditions that i had to accept any guilt. >> do you forgive vladimir putin? >> i would say it in a slightly
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different way. i don't consider this to be rationale behavior and something which i do not consider to be rationale is something that i can live with. >> will you go into politics? what is your plan for the future? >> translator: i cannot say i have exactly decided on my plans now. but what i have certainly decided for myself is that i do not want to be a symbol that russia does not remain a political prisoner. i want to be a symbol of the efforts of society leading to freedom of political prisoners.
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>> we're talking about your family now. that was a huge sacrifice. ten years you didn't see your family grow up. what are your feelings and reflections on how this cost your family so dearly? >> that is my huge debt which i cannot give back. >> it's very emotional. thank you for joining me. >> translator: thank you. >> throughout all of these years, he has been a liberal martyr of political opposition. he was russia's most famous political prisoner.
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even though he's out now, he says he will not go into formal politics. he wants to help build russian civil society as you heard. this case is being closely watched by the united states and many are saying that vladimir putin released him at this time because he wants to clean up russia's image ahead of the winter olympics in sochi but many are saying that vladimir putin felt confident enough at home and on the world stage to release the man who had been his arch political rival at this time. candy? >> thank you for watching "state of the union". "fareed zakaria gps" is next. this is "gps" the global public square. welcome to those of you around the world and in the united states. first, a star studded panel to look back at the year and ask what were the smartest moves on the international chess bod?
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