minimum-wage the unemployment is down. is it healthy to call for raising the minimum wage around the country? >> our state just increase the minimum wage to the ballpark of what has been proposed year. the starting to see that state by state. why not to do it on a federal basis. >> the authorization for military force, calling on congress to give military authority. how does that take shape? >> you start the foreign relations committee. one one was actually passed through the community at the end of last year.

now i know sen. corker is working on it. i think there is a strong feeling that we cannot keep relying on the authorization and have to move forward. >> thank you. great to be on. >> live coverage tonight. congressional reaction. welcome. >> the present looked like he was not ending his tenure. going to continue to work with the people of the united states until the end. end. he opened the new world of opportunity and challenge. working families. he can feel he was committed to giving you a leg up. >> there are no more

campaigns. really getting a lot of his agenda requires a campaign. so some of his programs. >> well, he wants the people of the united states to buy into it. but i am in my district i hear mothers crying out, families, young families for child care. that is a cornerstone. then the idea of increasing the minimum wage it was a stark question. and then the soul idea of balancing wealth inequality. one of the things that i held onto the presence passion and talking about how he growth with people living together but we must

pass the voting rights act. why is it being blocked? a love the way he did it. it. balance law enforcement needs and recognition of service to protect and serve understand parents who have lost there son to tragic incidences involving law enforcement. they can come together. that is what the president stated tonight. >> you have spoken about national security, homeland security. in the pres. addressed the issue of troops in afghanistan relying on partners asian and north african partners are you confident the military stature of the united states, where we are today is the right place to be? >> i have i have been a strong proponent for preparedness of our military

i'm going to keep focused on that so that we have a strong force to defend america. it is important to collaborate. the tragedy in nigeria. i think our us troops can be helpful in strategy and other resources. >> us boots on the ground. >> when i say troops resources, strategy, training, but obviously not engaging in the actual battle. the same thing in the middle east. trying to stamp out isys but more importantly trying to build up the iraqi forces again because without we had done so before and pushing them forward. that is an important.

>> how long do you have to wait for your seat? >> early in the morning to all of my constituents. i think it is important to let them no that i i care about them but more importantly we are working. the great things we get accomplished makes it worth it when i am able to make appointments and get things done for the district. we do it every year. one of the things am fighting for is the revitalization of nafta. >> thank you. live coverage. president obama speaking. welcome. what welcome. what did you here in the president's speech that resonated? >> what i i love the most was that he gave hope to the middle class. such detail the travails of

the young couple trying to make ends meet and how difficult it was for them to do so and made us all understand why it's so important for us to have greater access to childcare, paid family leave middle-class taxes than also why it was so important to have access to higher education. when he talked about the community college expenses zero i jumped up for joy. i been a community college teacher for 20 years. 20 years. i have seen the young people that have come their, the returning worker. to see that he is pushing for greater access to higher education made my heart just explode with joy. >> legislation being drafted?

>> i have not yet. i think that there was a broad support in the united states or something like this. higher education is the basic fundamental principle, something principle, something that is valuable in america, i key to the american dream. community college is the most accessible form of education that we have. how would we pay for it, it this is where we think it is important. more money available for the middle class. >> fairly high tax rates for many years there. the result of higher taxes. >> we have an excellent higher education system, a very good quality of life

and that is why so many people stay there. it is because california offers many of the things that people want when they are thinking about raising a family. >> to the constituents in your district, what is the number one issue? >> making sure that they can make ends meet. the fact that they are having such a hard time seeing their money loses value having such a hard time despite the fact that the economy is getting better making sure that there money goes where it should and making sure they can buy the things that they need for the family. we need we need to make sure that their dollars go where they should. >> a democrat. thank you for for being with us. >> thank you so much. >> our coverage continues.

>> how are you? >> very well. >> first of all, i heard the president as i think we have heard over a number of years the driving theme of his speech is essential for people on both parties to make the middle class and wages much more of a priority than both of those topics have been. i am glad he spent as much time as he did and told the story of a real american family and use that as a reflection of what we ought to be doing here. >> you mentioned family. the pres. said something along the lines talking about the woman who wrote him from minnesota, very tightknit family. we have come through some hard times.

>> i do. despite our political differences in the actual money which we should not paper over and pretend is now they are, but in this country we have strong disagreements, but they usually don't get resolved the way some places in the world do whether it's the kind of violence and destruction. so he was right to emphasize that kind of national unity despite a lot of the political division. you have to be honest about those divisions. i think he was trying to have more of a conversation as more of a confrontational policy address. >> what is that like? >> well, it's only been a couple of days. i think there is substantial pressure on both sides to try to work things out. if there's one thing i heard i heard in pennsylvania over several years but more urgently last three or four

you guys have to work together. i heard that over and over again. i'm no different than any democrat. he knows he only has two years left. republicans have majorities in both houses. they have a substantial degree of pressure on them to show that they can govern and that they we will figure out a way to show that they can govern because the country is demanding that. >> .-dot in 14 gets underway. >> the 1st.i made i made about the middle class there are several ways to improve. the minimum wage. folks folks you are in the middle class now. tax policy is important.

i also think the president's president's idea on childcare is an important part of the middle-class agenda. it starts it starts with that for me. i have an interest in early learning. pay equity making making sure we are doing everything possible to put on the table tax strategies that we will help small business to hire and therefore grow the middle class. >> senator bob casey from pennsylvania, thank you so much. >> congressman from california, thank you for being here. >> my pleasure. my pleasure. >> what did you think of the president speech? >> the same failed policies of the past six years, years, higher taxes, more and more spending, more burdensome regulations. my god we we should be in a new economic golden age.

they don't work. they have contributed gentleman equality. the people of the united states don't need more government handouts. they need more and better paying jobs. when the pres. says he we will sock the wealthy, he has to remember that you tax something and you get less of it. you tax investments, you get less investment at precisely the moment our economy greatly needs greater investment. >> republican colleagues mentioned to us earlier this evening the pres. was looking at the economic achievements of the last six months to year through rose-colored glasses. >> ask anyone in my district how the economy is growing and you get a different answer. if you look at the numbers you can see why. we have a smaller portion of the population working today than any time in more than 30 years. incomes for americans have gone down, not up. this was a tepid recovery when we should have expected

a brisk recovery. if the obama recovery and near the reagan economy millions more would be working. >> congressman, where is your district in california? >> sierra nevada. it used to be timber and resources until it was shut down by government regulation. it it was healthcare and i have the suburbs of sacramento. >> the pres. did not address the water issue out west but certainly talked about the issue of climate change. the hottest year on record. >> they have been keeping records. yes, the planet is warming. it has been has been warming on and off since the last

ice age. whether or whether or not we back our economy with the new taxes and regulations the planet we will continue to warm as it has for billions of years. >> thank you for having me. >> we continue with our coverage. following the president's hour and ten minutes or so. >> i thought it was a powerful speech. i think he came out very positive momentum on middle-class. transportation infrastructure bills, the biggest job creating bill we can pass and they gave me a lot of hope. i think also, tax relief

out of the ways and means committee. >> and overreach. >> he was not specific enough. the idea that we would put more cash in the pockets of working family to abandon the idea of making college education more affordable for people of all ages interested to see the details on that but i think in those three areas in particular we have the possibility of putting together a bipartisan coalition. >> one of your colleagues earlier mentioned that they thought it was the president speech. is your district ready for a progressive a progressive message? >> my district is ready to put everybody back to work. i don't no that we did it

but it but we want to build forward. we want to build america. let us rebuild this country from coast to coast. >> what is the employment situation like? >> it is much better than it was when president obama took office. we created thousands of jobs but that is a big boom below $2 a gallon many times of the last few months. that is giving a boost as a people are having more consumer spending to go out to restaurants in movies and so forth and buy items for their homes. we have had some layoffs because of the weakness in the economy's in other countries. so it is still tender that we have an unemployment rate below the national average. if you are at 6 percent that means you have hundreds of thousands of people still out of work.

we want everyone to not just have a job but have a good job. >> democrats in the house the president's idea of passing trade legislation. >> i don't think the president got much support from our side on that tonight. it will take creating jobs in this country. and not creating a race to the bottom for wages and benefits but opening markets and other places. the president talked about exporting goods. you can you can only do that when other countries open the markets. we basically had negative numbers. job job loss and gigantic trade deficits. 9.5 trillion. that is a lot of millions and millions of jobs.

we have to find deals that benefit us too. >> you have seen a number of state of the union speeches. do they matter anymore? does the "state of the union" still matter? >> it certainly does. the big frame. this country that we will follow in a few weeks commands budget,. and we will see what he is able to accomplish, the opposition party, what they put on the table and we we will try to govern. >> democrat from ohio. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> our coverage continues. things wrapping up. about an hour or two minutes ago.

we we have been bringing you reaction from members of congress. how are you? you may be our last guest year, congressman. what did you think of the pres.'s speech? >> it was a mixture. there was a lot of it that i think he knows is dead on arrival. obviously obviously we don't agree with the tax policy. considerable skepticism. we don't think he is entitled to any victory laps a lot more successful than the president thinks. so those are areas where we would disagree. some places where we can cooperate. all the republicans want to keep yelling and hollering.

forgot to mention the republican house passed cyber security legislation. we can now work together with the president on that on on infrastructure, if we can figure out a common way to pay for it something we agree. he mentioned precision medicine. i was just at the national institute of health with five other members. that is the investment this country ought to be making. we have some other areas of excellence that we have allowed to atrophy a little bit. i hope we can come back and find some common ground. some things to work together. will we see the barack obama that worked across party lines of the common of us

or are we going to see the barack obama issued executive orders on immigration a pres. president who is basically acting as chairman of the democratic national committee in which case is not going to cooperate for us in looking for progress in legacy? if he is he will find willing partners. >> what is 1st up after the speech? >> the things that are easiest to work on it we will continue blow-by-blow. on the other hand, again hand again looking further down the road trade is the easiest area.

i would argue, the sooner we can get him the authority he needs the better chance we have to negotiate a deal. he said he will. will. that will give us a better starting. we don't think the president has done well here. rethinking assembled the war very much is an authorization. the country needs to have that debate discussion. >> he pointed out his confidence. national security defense. >> as confident as the president. >> no, although no although i agree with the.that we need partners. particularly in the situation you have to have

islamic partners in there with you. really long on syria, two memoirs out by bob gates and leon panetta that say that. he clearly was wrong about iraq to read so their are a lot of areas where foreign-policy failed. his view of what is going on in the ukraine is what the ukrainian people want. they have been watching the country get dismembered. eastern parts of the country get torn away. i don't see how you can look at this and say it's been a success. >> about to wrap it up here. we want to remind you that all of our coverage is available anytime and throughout the night look

for coverage across the networks. this has been live coverage from statuary hall in the us capitol. >> now senate finance committee chair orrin hatch announces his committee's agenda for the year talking about several areas under its jurisdiction including taxes, entitlement reform trade, and the national debt and discusses his plans for the affordable care act speaking before the us chamber of commerce. this is about 40 minutes.

>> good morning, everyone. thank you for joining us today. the senator is short on time we will skip q&a. i think the the real reason we are here is to here the senate -- the chairman of the senate finance committee. in his 7th term as utah senator the most senior republican in the senate today and is and remains a a longtime friend of the american business community. he has been an advocate of fiscal responsibility, and responsibility, and advocate for extending trade and

expanding american exports and an advocate for reform. his 2015 policy agenda which as timing has it is a little bit of a pre- bottle to tonight state of the union. we hope we hope to here more about his plans for comprehensive tax reform his thoughts on how the community may address the entitlement and healthcare challenges that continue to confront the nation and what the future may hold on trade agreements. i would only ask and appreciate your lead recognizing tpa is always a heavy lift any suggestions you have for what we might do to help you would be appreciated. 2015 will prove to be a busy year. while the senator has many accomplishments, i will mention one. he is married to elaine hatch.

please join me in offering a warm welcome to senator hatch. [applause] >> actually actually, it's 15 great-grandchildren. [laughter] they seem to be popping up all the time. thank you for that kind of mark. they help us to understand what we are wrong and how to make things right. i am always on a regular chance to speak at the us chamber of commerce. everyone here does does good work to advance the interest of job creators and to keep everyone informed of some of the most important issues facing our country. offered to members of

congress over the years. it is an exciting time to be in washington at least if you are a republican. with the results of the last election we're not going to waste that opportunity. here today speaking as the chairman of the senate finance committee. the largest restriction of any committee and congress, legislating on issues that impact the lives and livelihoods of each and every american, jurisdiction over the tax code and much of our nation's health care policy jurisdiction over trade policy and entitlement programs and much more great senators on this committee on both sides of the aisle. i'm grateful for the senate minority leader in my colleagues. pardon my voice. ..

>> it is projected only to expand in the coming years. and we have a coming entitlement crisis that threatens to take our economy down with it. if we are going to write this

we are going to need a new agenda that puts help the economy is and job creation's first. an agenda that gives hard-working taxpayers greater security and independence. it will put our economy on a responsible fiscal footing and that is what i am here to talk about today. as the chairman of the finance committee, i want to do all that i can to put the country on a better path. to ensure that we have an opportunity to prosper. and we would like to lay that out for some of you here today. i am fully aware that the cynics is just another synonym. to make every part of this a reality. keep in mind i have cared to

large committees for making senate finance and there are some unique challenges, those that know me can attest that i can work to get things done. to see what i intend to do let's talk about what the senate finance committee will be tackling in the 114 congress. tax reform. my top priority will be to reform our nations tax code and it's long overdue. i don't think there's a person that would disagree with that sentiment. conference of tax reform is a center for getting our economy moving again. the current tax system is a robot that stands between us and sustain prosperity. i don't believe that reform should be considered optional. and that includes maintaining the economy. and i have laid out seven

principles that have guided our efforts. the first is growth in the economy. growing our economy should be our highest priority as we undertake tax reform. this includes robust growth, our children and grandchildren face a future. a dimmer future. the tax code should treat similarly situated taxpayers and it should not pick winners or losers a broader tax base with lower tax rates should be the basis of a fairer tax code. and every year americans spend more and more on gross domestic product and we spend more than the gross domestic product than the total growth product of new zealand just to comply with the tax code alone. these billions of dollars can be put to better use elsewhere

providing a greater financial security for families and for individuals. and we need to be able to plan for the future without wondering whether the tax code is going to change from year to year. our tax code should promote american competitiveness and that is another one of my principles. under the current system american employers face numerous competitive disadvantages relative to their foreign counterparts. we need to eliminate these impediments and put our own companies on a level playing field in the world marketplace. we also need to promote savings and investment. right now the tax code in many ways discourages people from saving and investing. harms growth and hinders financial independence and reduces the quality of life for future generations. that may be changed in tax

reform. if we are scouring them we are not engaging in attacks or form but plain and simple raising taxes. it is a needless distraction in my opinion. i don't know any reasonable person who would publicly argue that the american people are undertaxed. where that american businesses are undertaxed. we need to remember that as we work towards reform. because of the taxation of american businesses, some of them are inverting because of better tax rates in other countries and we have a very mobile economy in this country at that point. so it doesn't appear that president obama gets it. but the president plans to call for tax hikes in the name of sympathizing civil fine.

and the tax hikes would be particularly damaging with policies that help to expand the economy and promote savings and create jobs. his proposal would send a bad signal to workers who want us to actually help promote the health of the economy. his goals depart in many ways from the principles that i just set forward. revenue neutrality is essential that we not reforms. i hope that we can get the president on this. simplicity is important and that would create some creative advertising. in this plan that we will hear about tonight appears to be more about redistribution and with added complexity and class warfare directed at job creation

of small businesses that about tax reform which is unfortunate for me. because we are going to need not just liberal talking points. if tax reform is ever going to be successful, we have to have that leadership. so the question comes to how did we get to be a part of the reforms. the ranking member appointed leaders to tax reform working groups and tasked them with studying the various areas of the code to find solutions and offer proposals to reform. this process puts us on a path where this will be achievable. and that includes one individual income tax, business income tax, three, savings and investment and international tax and community development and infrastructure. my hope is that the committee members in these five bipartisan working groups will use this

opportunity to uncover real tax reform solutions and give us real ideas that will parlay us into a tax reform. i believe that is what they will do. they are all committed to this process and i believe that is going to work. and i speak again to the cynics in this process. this is not an exercise, this is not theater. nor is it just for show. this is a very real undertaking. and when it comes to this the purpose is to produce bipartisan tax reform legislation that will be introduced and marked up by the finance committee this year. i'm sure all of you have your own thoughts on what the final product should look like. and i look forward to hearing from you as this process moves slower. we also have to work to fund the

highway bill. as we know the latest iteration expires in may and whether we address that as a standalone or as part of tax reform, we are going to work to find a solution to pay for our highways. and i agree with the chairman that a gas tax increase is very unlikely. even though many readily agree with that. but i believe that we can find other solutions and infrastructure properly defined should be something that i'm committed to working with on both sides of the aisle to find a solution on this very important issue. another high-priority is the enhancement of our nation's interest in international trade. this is another area that impacts basically every american. more than 95% of the world's

population, 60% of its purchasing power resides in outside of the united states. if we want our businesses large and small to be able to compete on the world stage they need to have access to these foreign markets. there's just no way around it. trade is essential for a vibrant and growing economy and one that will create more jobs at home and provide greater prosperity and opportunity to businesses and individuals. the u.s. is currently engaged in two of the most ambitious trade negotiations in our nations history very first it is with like-minded countries in the asia-pacific region with the transpacific partnership and the other is with our allies and the european union. the trans-atlantic trade and my goal as chairman of the senate finance committee is to ensure that these trade agreements meet high standards and provide the best opportunities for american workers and businesses who hire

them. in order to do that we need to remove the trade promotion authority is. every president since fdr has sought this to negotiate and conclude by standard trade agreements and you're not going to get him from these countries unless we passé. i have been amazed that this president hasn't pushed very hard after saying that he would but never did. when there's no question that a lot of questions are raised. in the last century no major trade agreement has been concluded and enacted by congress without trade promotion authority. put simply it is essential that these trade agreements are going to succeed and they must succeed. some argued that its seeds too much authority to the president and i would hear that the opposite is true. the legislation that i introduced last year with max

baucus actually enhances this role in trade negotiations by giving specific directions to the administration as to what they need to deliver and get an agreement through congress. and that includes the passage of the tpa legislation. my plan is to move carefully but quickly to mark up the tpa bill. i'm currently working with the ranking member to see if there are improvements to be made so that we can introduce a bipartisan bill that we can move in short order. but i want to thank both of them for working as well as they do together and with me. if president obama can be more forward leaning members of his party starting with tonight's state of the union address, i think we can get this done

weekly. that is what i am committed to do. while this remains our top trade priority, there are other important elements of our trade agenda. this congress has to move to renew the generalized system of preferences and reauthorize the customs and border protection and the immigration and customs enforcement agencies and reauthorize the growth and opportunity act. my plan is to move sooner rather than later on all of these priorities this year as well. health care and i'd like to take a few minutes to talk about health care policy. there's a lot to discuss when it comes to the nation's health care system. of course hanging over every discussion that we have is the affordable care act. no one in this room should be surprised to learn that i posed

the affordable care act and think that it should be repealed. but i'm realistic with president obama in the white house that we will never get a full repeal enacted into law. not while he is president. but that doesn't mean that we should do nothing where we may not yet be able to repeal obamacare, we are going to continue to strike away at it piece by piece if we have to. just last week i introduced bipartisan legislation to deal medical device taxes and to repeal the employer mandate in one of obamacare's other anti-drug provisions. the house of representatives passed the heroes act, a bipartisan measure that will help veterans find work by exempting them from employer mandate on small businesses. and that past 100% in the house

and this will be the first one that we mark up in the finance committee. and that is the plan of the leadership as well. there others in the pipeline, many of those exposed to from parts of the affordable care act that make an impact on jobs and the economy, including lettuce ration to restore the 40 hour work week. and i plan on having the finance committee work through these bills so we can sum them all to the president's desk and have them try to explain to the american people while he is right and why he is wrong. but let's be clear it's not enough for the committee or the congress to simply send messages on obamacare. we need to work to positive solutions of our own. the last congress, i worked with the senators to develop a legitimate alternative to obamacare the patient care act. and our plan addresses the shortcomings of obamacare head-on, expanding patient choice, curbing rising health

care costs and injecting market forces into our health care system. in this congress i am going to work to bring others on board with our solutions. reaching out to experts and stakeholders for their thoughts and critiques on our plans and i hope that they will continue as we move forward. it is important that republicans unite because as we all know the supreme court is going to rule on the ledge of this to legitimacy and can they get subsidies to establish exchanges and the language is ambiguous saying that they can't do that. okay? so the supreme court is going to blondeness by the end of june. and of course i expressed our opinion on that and i won't speculate today on how this will

turn out except for our personal opinion. i will just say that we need to be prepared because should the court invalidate subsidies to foreign exchanges, we need to act to mitigate the additional damage on the health care system. and that is something that we have to be working on. in terms of health care there are a few items on the finance committee agenda. one of these is the health insurance program board ship, which is set to expire in september. we have heard from number of red states and blue states alike that they went to see this program extended. it's a marvelous program and i'm optimistic that we can work on a bipartisan basis to extend chip in a responsible way. in addition there is medicare sustainable growth weight or

str. this includes a bipartisan bill to have an improved payment system. that system evokes quality and efficiency and innovation. these efforts will continue in this congress and my goal is to address this challenge once and for all. entitlement reform. while we are on the subject of medicare i want to talk about our enforcement program's overall. we are facing an unprecedented fiscal crisis in the coming years and if we don't act and show our unsustainable entitlement programs medicare and medicaid and social security. this is out of whack but the stakes are enormous. with these programs we are talking about tens of chileans of dollars.

and you heard that right, tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities. our nations prominent fiscal health and not to mention our economy and the future of the safety net stands in the balance. everyone talks about entitlement reform, but few are willing to do anything about it. and every election sides that we are trying to destroy social security and nothing can be further from the truth. they keep kicking the proverbial can down the road. we need to act and do so sooner rather than later and the last congress and proposed five separate a partisan reforms and share them with anyone who would listen. even some including the president would not listen. and four of those reforms focused on medicare and included raising the eligibility age and reforming the supplemental

insurance system simplified cost-sharing and introducing competitive bidding to the system. the fifth reform was setting per capita limits on federal medicaid spending and each of these ideas have sometime in the recent past enjoyed the support of members of both parties. this is not a republican wish list of terrible things we would like to do to medicare and medicaid, these are reasonable ideas that i put forth to begin a discussion on entitlement reform. and of course we need to also talk about social security and the program with $25 trillion in unfunded obligations. the disability trust fund is projected to be exhausted sometime around 2016. and so there really is an urgency to act. and that is not anyone creating a false crisis but a fact. and even social security trustees who include the

officials to urge action and agree, in their words are not mine, legislative action is needed as soon as possible. so i will be working with the bipartisan legislation to motivate dialogue and began to process the financial changes in the congress and double room wire that my friends on the other side at the very least take up my offer to engage in dialogue. and something that thus far they have been unwilling to do. but we do not face the fact that entitlement promises are unsustainable and do nothing to place him on a sustainable path is seems that our taxes will have to rise. and not just allies, rice is efficiently over time. it is ill-suited for having ever

greater shares of the economy is in private hands for the inevitable result of failing to confront our unsustainable entitlements would be a future with yet more ways of government grabbing resources such as value added taxes or carbon taxes. the future with and all of the above strategy is something that we must avoid if we truly value the strength and dynamism of the american economy. and pensions. okay? another priority for me will be pension reform. the purpose of tension with them is to help hard-working americans achieve financial independence. legislation introduced in last congress, called a safe the safe retirement act, is designed to do just that. the safe retirement act which we will take up in this congress will increase opportunities for americans to save for their

retirement and to help make sure that their money last a lifetime. no small feat in a world where people are living longer and longer lives. my bill would do a number of things, for example it would create a starter 401k plan designed for small or startup businesses that are not in a position to contribute to a plan but still want to hope their employees to save and it also allows unrelated small employers to pool their assets and a simple 401k plan to achieve better investment outcomes and lower costs and have administration. in addition it encourages fixed annuities for retirement and my legislation also tackles one of the most pressing retirement problems facing the country, the problem of benefit pension plans which are bankrupting state and local governments.

it's the greatest problem that illinois has right now california and even almost all the states that are in trouble. as some of you might know the urban institute has established a comprehensive system for evaluating plans across the country. the system grades various plans using seven separate criteria and i'm glad to say that the safe retirement plan is the only one in the country to receive grades under the seven criteria. in other words, they gave my plan the highest grade given in the country. and i remain convinced that my plan represents the best solution in america. finally the retirement act of save guarantees that they will have professional investment advice by restoring jurisdiction over the judiciary rule in requiring the treasury to consult with exchange commission when relating to the

professional standard book by brokers and investment advisers to ira owners. and it only makes sense to give treasury release after all the judiciary due beauty is in the tax code and i look forward to seeing the safe retirement act enacted into law. and i would like to talk briefly about the debt ceiling which is going to come our way maybe sometime about midyear. that limit is another major item that falls under the finance committee's jurisdiction. it makes you wonder why we went on this committee to begin with. and at this point we are uncertain how the new extension of the debt limit will be processed and what that will entail. the rest assured that the finance committee will play a role in whatever outcome is reached. human resources. another area that falls under the jurisdiction is that of human resources and welfare.

i have a full agenda there as well. the federal government needs to be a better steward of taxpayer dollars in insured that social interventions actually produce positive outcomes for vulnerable children and families. who should fund will be no electives but elsewhere welfare system and stop spending scarce or someone hurts children. there are a number of extremes in the senate finance committee that have languished for years without appropriate oversight and the valuation. as chairman i will review programs like the temporary assistance for needy families program's and the social services to determine if they are producing positive results. and if not what we can do about it. i worked with senator benedick from colorado to introduce legislation to promote private and public partnerships to promote effective cost-saving social interventions.

sometimes this is referred to as social impact bonds. this could also offer states and the federal government a viable pathway to innovate promising strategies to achieve positive results and save taxpayer dollars at the same time and so that you're probably getting to the end of this thing today. but you can see that we have a tremendous jurisdiction and last but certainly not least i want to talk about oversight. it has a long tradition of vigorous and effective oversight, whether in some cases entities in the private sector, i plan to make sure that that

tradition continues. michael will be to be very aggressive but fair and the oversight efforts and for too long agencies under the committee's jurisdiction have abated oversight by simply ordering congressional requests for information. as the saying goes, that is a dog that just won't hunt. the stonewalling will come to an end one way or another and for example we need to look closely at the implementation of obamacare, from hhs forward we need to see how they are spending taxpayer money and what burdens their actions are placing on taxpayers. most people don't notice but the administration has spent nearly a billion dollars on state exchanges that were never implemented. in other states want the federal government to spend hundreds of millions more to help them get their federal exchange working in order. and we need to know what happened and if that money will ever be paid back and we've also

hold the administration accountable for the management of entitlement programs and expose any choices that have led to the loss of limbs of taxpayer funds. we also need to ensure accountability from the administration on the often opaque programs undertaken at the treasuries, social security is asian and other agents. these agents deserve his possible to an tens of billions of dollars on the cost alone. as the trillions of dollars of payments as well and tax receipts from hard-working american workers and businesses. those responsibilities have been executed in the treasury of social security and we have a responsibility from all americans to assure that they know how their resources are being utilized and take decision-making out of the shadows and into the light of day. oversight of the administration as one of the most important

jobs and i went to make sure that the efforts yield results that will improve the way the government functions. many of these agenda items is the question whether congress remains some of the more high-profile items being passed through post-chambers. that is certainly a question that has been raised in particular with regard to health care and tax reform and i know that many of you have questions about this as well. so let me just say that when it comes to items that fall under the jurisdiction of the finance committee, my purpose is to work towards bipartisan solutions however we should not and cannot take any two off the table. the stakes are too high to limit ourselves like this. so i will work with my colleagues to make sure that whatever we do under the finance committee's jurisdiction is effective. but as you can see we have a lot on our plate in the finance committee given the challenges that we face as a country in the

size of our jurisdiction, that is a way to have been. but i think it's a good thing. the senate finance committee has a long tradition of effectiveness and bipartisanship and i've always been proud to serve on this committee for just that reason. so i look forward to working with my colleagues both republicans and democrats to make this agenda a reality will look forward to working with all of you and taking your suggestions as i want to go back to what i said about ambition. some call it on realistic. but i believe that we have to be ambitious we are going to do anything worthwhile. we must be ambitious if we are going to solve all the problems we have discussed here today and help our country prosper. and we must be ambitious if we are going to do good things for the american people. i just want to tally kill you how much i appreciate the work of the u.s. chamber of commerce and i have appreciated their support and my reelections and i

have appreciated their support on capitol hill on so many issues that have helped make this country a better place. where we can live and work and raise families and i want to thank you all this morning for what you do. god bless you and god bless our wonderful country. [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> on this wednesday morning on c-span2, treasury secretary jack lew discusses the economy and tax policy and the president's state of the union speech. coverage from the brookings institution begins at 8:30 a.m. eastern time.

>> c-span2 is providing live coverage of key public policy events and senate floor proceedings. every week, the only television network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. created by the cable tv industry and brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> in his state of the union speech tonight president obama oquist on economic issues, including postals for tax forms, raising minimum wage and the wiring employers to provide sick leave to their workers. you can watch a replay on c-span. after the speech we had reaction from members of congress in the capital and we begin with democrat congresswoman eddie bernice johnson. >> the state of the unit is over

and the state of the union coverage continues on c-span2 and c-span.org. the president saying the shadow of crisis has passed and the in the state of the union is strong. once again hear from statuary hall outside of the house of representatives, bring you reaction and we begin with representative eddie bernice johnson. thank you very much. >> i thought it was a great speech and i thought it was a great message to america and the economy. >> the president said there are no more campaigns for him. what do you think that he would have to push hardest were on capitol hill to begin with? >> i think that we are making sure that we focus on where the focus should be and giving our children opportunities and opportunities for the working

people, that is exactly where the focus should be. and i'm hoping that we can. >> what is the tenor like in 114 congress between democrats and republicans and what is it like this time around. >> the committee where i am ranking member, we are struggling getting people to have some input and i hope that we can. i don't think that it can make a difference as to what whether all of us can participate equally. >> of all the things that you heard the president talk about in terms of the issues he laid out, what is the most important to you. >> to continue the education of our young people and to focus on the separation for jobs and high

technology environment, education is important, community college education is very important. so those are the things that i hope all of the people around me understand. but i'm not the only one that represents dallas, texas. there others that do. and the need is the same all over them. so i hope that we can work together. >> congresswoman, thank you for being with us. make room or democratic congressman mike honda. it's good to see you. what did you hear in the president's state of the union speech that stuck out tonight? >> first, that it was a very progressive and broad-based speech. an issue that we have been working with for the last 14 or 15 years since 2001 with inequity of wages, making sure that people have jobs. i think that hits a note with the ability to us to be able to

look at community college education. and that will provide a lot of people in my district continuation of jobs and retraining of jobs and the experiences. >> it is a republican dominated congress. >> we just have to keep working at it. it is out there at, making sure that everybody knows how we are voting on the issues. >> you said this was a progressive stage. are we ready for a progressive agenda? >> we have been ready for a long time. we should have had a progressive budget after 2009. and i think that it would president has talked about this on all these things. we inherited the economy and we

never lost the focus on the vision that we had to focus together, adjusting the issues that really create the sense of inequity in this country, we have never forgotten that and we have adjusted it today and now we have two more years that we can move forward and address those issues. >> congressman, we appreciate you being with us on c-span. we will make way for peter defazio who is the ranking democrat on the transportation committee congressman what did you hear the president talking about the structure spending and also about climate change. >> well, there were a number of infrastructures. i think that it's starting on both sides of the file. the president chose the business

recovery acts which spent a lot of money on tax cuts as it did on rebuilding america and it's time to rebuild america. >> if you had to put a dollar figure on something like that, you are talking a moment ago about the stimulus of several years ago. >> that wasn't a hundred billion dollar bill and about $50 billion of it went into investment infrastructure in the broadest sense of the term. seven times as much put anyone back to work and tax cut. >> so what about climate change in terms of the latest news and the warmest year on the planet in 2014. what did you expect him and his administration to do about that? >> i hope they continue to press forward on carbon emissions and honestly the republicans are trying anything and everything they can to overturn the regulations, but inefficient

system might be a partisan solution that we can agree upon that would lower the carbon emissions by people not sitting in traffic and idling and all the other impacts, giving them opportunities. >> you think the president will veto the keystone bill and do you think that he will approve the project? >> i'm not going to guess what the president is going to do in the keystone. >> congressman, thank you so much. we will get another view in a moment. we are live on the stand to end c-span.org with reaction. senator hoeven thank you for being with us. what did you think about this and the president's speech? >> i think there are things we can work together on we talked about the highway bill, infrastructure, cybersecurity, we need to do that. but i'm concerned about higher taxes, bigger government, more regulation, those are the things that hurt economic growth and

that is where we will try to balance, trying to move it along. >> talks about some veto threats and he didn't mention this specifically that specifically about veto we matter. what is your sense from this speech on where you stand on that issue. >> if you think about it it is about energy and jobs and economic growth and it is about national security and he talked about taking credit because we are producing so much oil and gas and that he is holding up the kind of infrastructure that we need and that is a piece of legislation that we need. and he has to start working with us on some of these issues. >> what is the solution in terms of coming up with a funding. and we had peter talking about transportation spending. what does that dollar figure look like? >> one of the things he talked about is where we provide an

incentive for these companies to bring dollars back that are overseas and bring them back to our country so that we can pass our highway bill without raising taxes. and i think that that's a real option. the. >> would you like to give us a timetable when you think that that will finish up with the keystone bill on the floor? >> i anticipate that there will be a vote on the senate, hopefully going to conference with the house, as far as senate floor action early next week. >> senator, thank you for being with us. we are live from statuary hall, the u.s. capitol thank you senator. what did you like about the president's speech? what did you hear? >> a message from the voters

they want us to work together and they want us to figure out the economic recovery. it's underway. the question is how do we keep it going. we mentioned this among other things the second got a lot and we all know that we need to work on this. >> okay, so you're a republican-controlled senate and a republican controlled house their cybersecurity, is that an area that we can agree upon legislatively? >> behold immigration reform is an area as well.

>> let's focus on that. >> what about the authorization for military force? the president called to authorize military force against isil. >> i think that this will last a few weeks or a few months. >> one of your democratic colleagues referred to this as a progressive stage. >> there's a lot of things that the republicans can agree with. i thought it was beautifully mastered and delivered. but i think it was a great state of the state addressed. to be able to live without is

pretty amazing. >> thank you for being with us. talking next to the congressman from colorado. what did you think of the president's speech? >> i thought that he had some aspirational notes. we have made some progress we still have a low participation rate, regulations or stifling businesses we are talking about access to capital issues, so its rules and regulations and inhibiting our ability to get the economy truly moving. >> the president talked about job growth in last four years comparing it to other countries in the united states, it has been greater than japan and europe in the advanced nations combined. so is at the rate of job growth or the quality of the jobs? >> the bottom line is we have an

opportunity to be able to maintain jobs and see opportunities for a brighter future and that is what we see missing as economic recovery and americans are not sharing this simply because they haven't been able to find a job and we need to unleash that economic potential while americans can get back to work. >> bodies we have a big issue in the house coming up with legislation to reverse a lot of the actions of the president and the president tonight stating his attempt to veto legislation that will overturn that or any of the dodd-frank or health care. so what is the next step immigration passes the senate. where do you go from there? >> the president calls on congress and that means that he cannot circumvent congress. we have a constitutional process to be able to go through with

the house of representatives, we have been promoting a step-by-step basis to actually address and fix the problem and to be able to make sure that we have a system that is working for the american public and to be able to have legal immigration coming into the country, we can achieve that goal but the president has to be able to work with them. >> that's the biggest issue. >> i think that really how are you going to get small businesses, people in rural america, we have pockets of prosperity the president was referring to. where we still have double-digit unemployment in terms of the unemployment numbers and we have to be able to create those opportunities, regulations are stifling small business development and by now we have more small businesses a new business startups in this country and we have to be able to open that door. >> scott, thank you so much for joining us tonight on the state of the union. coming next to the congressman

from pennsylvania. what did you hear from the president tonight. >> on the one hand i thought the speech was more a political statement than a governing agenda and that was my initial reaction. at some point we need to come together, another time there were those predictions in the speech and we can clearly work together on trade and hopefully transportation infrastructure and that is a bipartisan project. and so maybe on some tax reform, i didn't get a good sense on tax reform. >> he said it's more of a political tone to you and the president saying tonight that i have no more campaigns. so we have political tone directness. >> you know we were hearing a lot of talk more class warfare is what it sounded like to me.

at the end of the speech he says we need to come together. so there were contradictions and i thought it was largely political, some of the same statements that we have heard. you know we have had arguments about that issue and i'm not against it, but i'm just saying that i don't think that is the answer to all of our economic challenges area it took a lot of credit for lower your energy policies. so there are some contradictions >> what's the number one or number two issue and what did would you hear from the president about those issues tonight? >> there's a lot of issues just like everywhere, it's really about the economy is this economy trading of jobs, i believe that the economy is in a better position than last to tears. the real action is is this an endurable sustainable recovery although we see better data on jobs, there's some concern that

this is not translating into wage increases or even a higher standard of living and that costs are going up in some areas. >> i think it's too early. the economy is in a better position. but we are not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination. that is really the question. and there's danger clouds and birds to what is happening in asia and the economy elsewhere is really odd. so we haven't spiked the football just yet. >> congressman, we appreciate you stopping by. the senator from arizona hello senator, it's great to see you. let me ask you first about an issue that you've spoken about which is cuba and the president mentioning this in a state of union. >> that is part of the speech. he did the right thing. do not often agree with the president on foreign policy, but he did the right thing and it

will be good for the cuban people and americans as well. >> what else stuck out as well? >> i think that we can work with the president on trading. there is a bipartisan majority that believes that we need it and the president spoke well on that. i think that we will work with him on that. >> we can bring the rate down. >> were you surprised at all in the days leading up to the state of the union that the president's proposal on taxes increases for some income levels? >> we have talked about that just about every time. and so i don't think it's getting a warm reception.

>> i think that it will kick back to the president. and i think that we just need to do the right thing. >> another difficult issue particularly for your sake is immigration, the house last week overturning or blocking the number of executive actions, how much of that expands when it takes place in the senate. >> one of the deals that are here illegally now. >> i think it will be difficult

for the president to veto. if the president had said that he won at a conference of approach, we did that in the senate, but now the president has done it piecemeal. and i think that that is what congress can do as well. >> senator thank you for coming back. this is the 2015 state of the union. debbie wasserman schultz, congresswoman from florida, what do you hear in the president's speech tonight? >> i was thrilled at the president took the opportunity to talk about the importance of american exceptionalism. how it's important that we give people more opportunity to succeed. that the end of the speech he said both democrats and republicans challenge them and we are going to take some risks.

>> obviously the democrats take control, but obviously what about the democratic legislative priorities to get done. >> making sure instead of the trickle down economics and continued as, to focus on middle-class economics and we take the opportunity to make sure whether it is making higher education universal and free and affordable or ensuring that someone doesn't have to choose between taking a day off from work because they are sick and people are losing their jobs, that we make sure that we build that pathway to the middle class and make sure that it's not just the wealthiest among us that have the chance to make it better way of life for themselves. >> we are here on january 15--

january 2015. what does a democrat have to do to win the presidential race. not in terms of looks but policy and their overall presentation. >> i think the 45th president of the united states will be a democrat and we will focus on making sure that if you work hard and play by the rules that you can succeed and that we just need to give people a fair shot and a fair shake and the people are not asking for handouts but a good quality education that they can form afford. not just focusing on those who didn't get wealthy get wealthier. and also when it comes to work whether it is increased minimum wage work is paid sick leave that those are basic things on which we can build a strong middle class. >> this community college to have a chance? >> yes, i hope so. just looking at the other side of the aisle they sat on their

hands a lot on things that really should be a no-brainer. and we are going to continue to try to reach out to them. we will have an opportunity in two years to have voters choose the vision that president obama laid out for working families. which is holding the wealthiest among us. >> chairman of the democratic national committee debbie wasserman schultz. this is statuary hall come in the former site of the house of representatives from 1807 to 1857. five presidents were nominated in this room. thank you for being with us. the ranking member on ways and means and the president laying out a very bold tax policy. what do you think. >> i think it is right on target. and we have several years of

recovery in terms not a lot and in terms of expansion. but now the question is how do we make sure that the middle class fully participates. the new tax provisions include so many other things, health care as well. so we need to make sure that the benefits of recovery are stretched out. that is why the whole issue is so important. that is what this is truly all about. >> you have a new partner on the ways and means committee in paul ryan. of all the things that the president laid out, you talked about community college, equal pay changes and there is a glimmer of bipartisanship and

anything that the president mentioned, your committee you believe could work together on. >> i think that the key was at the end. essentially when the president called on all of us that the issues are so important that we need to try. they are so important that we certainly need to try. and that includes climate change and so many other issues. but these are overarching issues. and so i think that the president is saying in a personal way that there are so many major issues now in terms of the economic recovery. ..

now we have got to invest in the future. we have got to reduce some of the bipartisan ship that we have on the house floor. we have to have bipartisan support i believe i believe it will resonate with the american people. >> he kicked off a lot of different items increasing the minimum wage. >> many of the things of the president talked about tonight.

the stock market is doing reasonably well. it is time for the american corporation it's time for us to invest in infrastructure and build a better america. >> tell me how you and the congressional black caucus feel about the president coming in talking about america's reaction to the shooting in ferguson and the police situation? 's. >> he cannot dwell on it but he did make reference to it and i appreciated that. i was a delegation. i can tell you that the problems are significant. the whole the whole question of police misconduct and prosecutorial misconduct is prevalent all across the nation. >> top legislative priority?

>> formative justice reform. we cannot have that. we have to fix the system that is broken. during great doing great work, but we have some bad actors. and also to rein in those who are out of control. >> good luck. thank you for being with us. >> congressman from north carolina, live coverage here reaction from statuary hall. the member, freshman from michigan. what is your take away? >> this is my 1st time sitting here taking in every word because it is my job now to address those issues. so many so many points i was glad to hear.

paid sick leave our economy, families choosing between a sick child in their job. that is unacceptable. how we must address the fact that when people work they deserve to have a quality of life. so excited about working together. i am used to getting things done coming done, coming to this congress to work with the different sides of use and take care of the issues. he drove that home. i am personally with members of my personal class is said that is something we want to accomplish. >> your district in michigan. >> i cover detroit and the metropolitan area. some of the wealthiest communities in the country and some of the most challenged. >> the follow-up to the

state of the union in terms of translating what the president says in the legislation and to your constituents. >> we are assigned committee. they are bipartisan. we have republican and democrat. >> and what is your committee? >> oversight and also small business. and so between the two of those those are areas we can take these issues and drying out different views and bring forth laws and legislation. we keep talking about the environment. it is time time for us to act. >> welcome to congress. thank you for being here. we will make way for congressman our green of

texas. >> good to see you. >> i thought the president was quite -- he did quite well. he address the issues of the working class. minimum class. minimum wage is very important to people of this country, those working full-time and addressed it in such a way as to help people understand that it impacts more than just those who are on-the-job. when you when you make more money you create more jobs. i thought he handled it very well. >> at this., the economy is going along pretty well. a federal minimum wage. >> i think i think we have to increase the minimum wage there are too many people

being left behind. the gap is is widening between those at the top of the rest of us. it's a little bit much. >> the minimum wage, what did you here that is important to members constituents? >> well, when he spoke about the veterans i think that that was something. if there's something we can find bipartisan support for its helping our veterans. many don't come back the way that they left. if we can spend $1 trillion to put them in harms way we should be able to spend whatever it takes to make sure they get good health care. >> pleased with how the administration has left the issue. >> well, i am. we have more to do.

we have tried to make sure if you can't get the services you need you can go into the private market. there is still great work to be done. >> we are to do something about immigration. i am the beneficiary of a great executive order, the emancipation proclamation. proclamation. i assure you, i stand with the president. >> the senate passes it and the president vetoes. where do you go from there? >> well, we continue to do the right thing continue to do for a people who came here and meant is no harm who want to pay taxes want to become a part of the rich, vibrant fabric of the

united states of america continue to work until we can get the job done. we need to do it sooner than later. >> we appreciate you stopping by and talking with us. "state of the union" night, former houston or from colorado, colorado, now senator colorado, senator kori gardner. thank you for being with us. first time as a a senator. what did you here from president obama? >> two parts of the speech. he chastise republicans and talked about more government spending tax increases some things that we could work on but the 2nd part of the speech was focused on working together. it was like he did not work -- listen to the 1st part of the speech. >> the biggest issue that coloradans face. >> it is about the economy making sure we are lifting people up.

we have a situation right now where it looks good. you scratch underneath the surface and people are hurting. they have not have the opportunities to make sure they can make the families ends meet. with the pres. talked about tonight is not going to do the job. higher taxes more government programs, or government programs, or spending is not the message that was sent to november. >> is there a role for government? >> getting out of the way, making sure that the regulatory framework works to entice job creators, that government agents give small businesses the tools they need instead of creating roadblocks. >> just a couple of weeks old. give us your impression. >> i used to make a few jokes. >> in terms of the

day-to-day operation operation, what does it feel like? >> obviously two very different places. the saucer on the tea. we are now opening up debate members members were not offered to have allowed to offer amendments. having open debate, allowing amendments to be offered and are voting on them. >> the biggest issue that you will work on? >> the economy and making sure we get people back to work. >> senator kori gardner. from michigan representative from vermont. what did you here? >> quite honestly what came to mind and i wrote down on notes was rose-colored glasses.

talking about the shadow of the crisis has passed into nightly turn the page. i'm not sure that the american worker feels all of that. stagnant wages, lots of questions you about healthcare upward mobility. i do not think that we have crossed the rubicon that another to add another metaphor. we have got to come together and figure out how we get this economy running. we have seen things to thought he did not talk about it directly tonight, tonight, but a discussion about taxing 529 and lots of different things that will add even more uncertainty. >> another drop of the unemployment, the stock market. so what does it look like?

>> people feel that in their pocketbook. an example. energy production is up. well, that is because of private lands not because of public lands in the exploration and has gone. i will tell you one thing that has struck me and all of this. the unemployment rate gets quoted. you have to go to that umbrella six line of the labor report to see the real number of unemployed and underemployed which is still at least twice as high as the official employment unemployment rate. the instability and unemployment. >> financial services passed legislation. we will we see more?

>> what it needs to do is make it workable. this is not holy scripture from on high. this is flawed work. certainly with 2000+ pages we no their are serious flaws and dodd frank. the president has signed some of those from previous years. we had to go back in and fix something in there. now all of a sudden this is holy script that we cannot touch. >> on capitol hill.

>> credit unions, unions, insurance companies, people that are getting dragon and regulations that even barney frank and chris dodd said were not the intent. those are the kinds of things we have to fix. >> we move on to nebraska. >> let's start with an issue that involves nebraska. clearing the way for the keystone pipeline. barely even touching on it. >> nebraska has been the center of debate and for good reason. from from my personal perspective we need a partnership that is respectful.

work aggressively to try to get the pipeline moved. i voted against it. now that it is moved it seems prudent. >> the next step is. >> there is strong bipartisan support of this.

>> a couple of points. the appropriately called us all to be thankful of the troops. the economy, it's really a tale of two cities. it might be some new job. some people completely dropped out of the workforce because they are so discouraged. we need a healthy economy. so many small businesses. i got an e-mail today. healthcare cost is gone up

so much. how we actually help people in the middle class. >> from nebraska. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> what did you think of the pres. speech. >> i thought it was a positive speech. it was done in a way that was joyful about the positiveness of this country and what we stand for. i think we'll was also important was that he talked about the successes and

where we were six years ago and where we are now which was an important thing to do. down to 37% 37 percent unemployment. we need more students with community college degrees more welders. i think that is an important message. message. something like a million people who are unemployed. they they key is to match those people with a job opening. >> community college proposal. has that yet made it into legislative form? >> as the president pointed out today varying degrees introduced. someone who would not be here. community college.

my sister never graduated from high school and was able to get into community college in graduate and go on to get two more years of school. those archer american stories. capturing the dream him and so much trouble. we are stabilizing now. we. we are not doubling -- government from crisis. >> 3.7 percent. is it healthy to call for raising the minimum wage around the country?

>> is starting to do that everywhere. >> how does that take shape? >> authorization. one was actually passed through the community at the end of last year with democratic support. but i think there is really a strong feeling in the united states senate that we can't keep relying on the past authorization. we have to move forward. >> thank you. >> live coverage tonight.

sheila jackson lee of texas. >> until the very end. opportunity and challenge. the working family. you can feel that he was committed to giving you a leg up, not a handout but a leg up. >> really getting a lot of his agenda requires a campaign. >> well he wants the people of the united states to buy into it. as i sit and reflect, what do i hear about?

i hear mothers crying out, families command families. that is a cornerstone of being able to work through the workforce. this was start question him. and then the idea of balancing wealth inequality. one of the things that i held onto at the very end, the pres.'s passion and talking about about how he grew up with many people living together which i think america can do but we looked past the the voting rights act to empower people, reauthorize it. i love the way he did it. balance the recognition of there service to protect and serve and understand the face of parents who have

lost there son. that is what the president stated tonight. >> national security homeland security. the pres. addressed the issue of troops in afghanistan no longer there. are you confident that the military stature of the united states, where we are today in terms of national security is the right place to be. >> i have been a strong proponent over the years of preparedness of our military including a personnel and training and i will keep focused on that. it is important to collaborate. that comes into our command. i really think fighting

against that horrible terror. >> intimate, strategy, training. but obviously. but obviously not engage in the actual battle. a number of european allies and others. we thought we had done so before. pushing them forward. that is an important.in does not diminish the strength and the power of the american military force. >> how long do you have to wait? >> i do it with great excitement early in the morning. i think it is important to be able to let them no that i care about them the more importantly we are working. it makes it worse for what i'm able to make

appointments and get things done for the district and we do it every year and come away with a lot of goodies. one of the things on fighting for is the revitalization. we do a lot of talk about that. >> live coverage here in the us capitol. president obama speaking. welcome. what did you here that resonated? >> what i loved the most was that he gave hope to the middle class. described in such detail the travails of that young couple trying to make ends meet and that difficult it was for them to do so and made us all understand why it is important for us to have greater access to childcare paid family leave, increasing middle-class taxes and also

why it was so important have access to higher education. when he talked about making the community college expenses at zero i jumped up for joy because i have been a community college teacher for 20 years. i have seen the young people that have come to the returning worker. to see that that he is pushing for greater access to higher education made my heart just explode with joy because it is something that we really need. >> where does that stand? have you talked to some of your republican colleagues? >> i have not yet. but i think that there is broad support in the united states for something like this. higher education is the basic fundamental principle something that is valuable in america to the american dream two and a a community

college is the most accessible form of education that we have. how would we pay for it? it is important to close tax loopholes and make sure that there is more money available. >> you of come from the state that has fairly high tax rates him. what has been the result? >> actually, we have an excellent higher education system, a very good quality of life and that is why so many people say there. there. it is because california offers many of the things that people want their thinking about raising a family. >> to the constituents in your district, district what is the number one issue? >> i think i think it is making sure that they can

make ends meet having such a hard time seeing their money you -- loses value. having such a hard time despite the fact that the economy is getting better making sure that there money goes where it should making sure that they can buy the things that they need for the their family. we need to make sure that the dollar goes where it should. >> thank you for being with us. >> thank you so much. >> coverage continues. from the president.

>> i think it is essential for people on both parties to make the middle class and wages much more of a priority. so i am glad he spent as much time as he did. i'm glad he told the story of a real american family and use that not just as a metaphor but really as a reflection. >> you mentioned family. we have come through him a very tightknit family. come through some very hard times. do you feel that about the country? >> i do. despite our political differences in the acrimony but in this country we have strong disagreements but they usually don't get resolved the way that some places in the world do weather is the kind of violence and destruction that happens him.

he was right to emphasize that kind of national unity despite a lot of the political division. we have to be honest about the division and i think he was trying to have more of a conversation as opposed to a confrontational policy address. >> there is substantial pressure on both sides. if there's 11 thing i heard of pennsylvania over several years but maybe more urgently, you have to work together. so the president as he only has two years left. they have a substantial degree of pressure on them. him