anybody that pops up. then finally he declares victory. i cleared it up, i am the winner but hillary clinton started it. n

and when she joins us we will put her in the order. i think we can move quickly to the witnesses. it is timely for us to be doing this hearing now in the week in which president trump has announced a new nominee for the supreme court's. somebody who will protect the

5 - for -- that has reliably delivered decision after decision for the republican party selection interest and for the big corporations financial interest. we have a lot that is relevant to today's conversation. the janus cases very much in that tradition. it began with a highly unusual invitation by one of the five republican justices on the supreme court to challenge this aspect of a decision that was what was in there confirmation guides they would call a binding precedent. we need to follow this and we must follow it. of course they got on the court and smashed precedent left right and center.

we are getting a little tired of seeing that. this then went on with full litigation with full parties backed by big republican special interest bringing cases they asked to lose so they could move rapidly through the litigation process to the destination at the supreme court where they believed five welcoming justices awaited them for the promised outcome. of course the death of justice scalia messed with that and that's a tie of four, it took him a zero time for those same big republican dark money interest to get the litigation back up and come racing back to the court with new plaintiffs

with equally questionable standings. the court overlook those because it had a pet political project which was to get rid of the source of funding. that is where we are today. it rolls over from the political into the personal, and we have teacher of the year from arizona and a home care worker to talk about the personal side. let me ask professor in nancy mclean, the author of a terrific book about dark money in the way in which big money has infiltrated our debate over many years and try to control the narrative for big special interests. we will start with the professor and her wonderful book been a good afternoon. thank you senator white house. i am nancy mclean, u.s. historian at duke university and the author most recently as senator white house said of a book called democracy and

change. i've spent the better part of a the last decade researching unraveling the historical roots of the ideas that the libertarian radical right funded by charles coke and his donors are applying to our country. this antidemocratic right consists of hundreds of organizations including national bodies including the cato institute, the heritage foundation the exchange council and the better federalist society their organizing enterprises including americans for prosperity, concerned veterans of america, the libre initiative in generation opportunity. most of us critical of today's right have not really grasp what this vast apparatus is speaking. in fact, one pop official

gloated at the summit that we are close to winning while the networks critic still don't have the right path. i found that with my research. we'll talk about the belief system and what that means for policymakers here in washington. without that understanding we view cases like janus and isolation. let me explain. many americans have interpreted the janus decision is appearance simple case of unionbusting. however, the litigation was a crucial piece of the radical right to take power out of the hands of ordinary citizens and public officials. to make sure that power never returns by radically altering

the rules of our democracy is enshrined in our constitution. it is critical to the success. i learned from reading thousands of pages of documents this has produced over half a century. they understand the only way they can achieve their radical anti- democratic transformational government is to put their plan in place piece-by-piece without announcing their true intent. in setting this emotion charles koch began with the presumption that we are greatly outnumbered. we are greatly outnumbered, to win the cosmos overwhelmed the other side with what he termed interrelated play. so let me guide to to the elements of the radical elements which link these plays which we are seen in this country since

2009, first, market forces should determine social outcome with no interference from government. government has only three legitimate roles, enforce the law, ensure social order and defend us from social enemies. everything else should be eliminated because it interferes with property rights and economic liberty. second, any attempt by the people to use their numbers to modify markets like government policies like minimum wages to his illegitimate. the coke team believes we should only have the right to act as individuals. as americans have been accustomed to doing for generations. free speech is not the end goal

of the janus case, that goal is breaking down the collective power to black implementation like private an education, socil security, medicare, medicaid and more. third, democracy does not require majority rule. in fact, democracy the radical libertarian cause believes in unanimity. only if anyone, above all the wealthiest among us supports a particular policy voluntarily agrees represents a calming degrees. that's why they ate aligned individuals and officials are working hard to limit voting's. including african-americans, latinos, low-income whites and

low-income people of all. fourth, elected officials do not care about the common good, they only care about getting reelected using other people's money to dole out favors to ensure that. because the people cannot be trusted and elected officials cannot be trusted with the power of the tax, ironclad binding restraints must be put on both. the nobel prize-winning economist whose idea has been weapon nice by the bae 59 network, they said they have been so extensive that they amounted to a constitutional revolution. that would put shackles on what government could do, including making mandatory balance budge budgets, imposing congressional term limits, limiting the right

to vote and requiring super majorities for any substance after the constitutional revolution. perhaps most telling, the only way to achieve this is by writing misinformation and relying initially on the branch of government easiest for those to capture and deploy. that is state government. since the 2010 midterm and the gerrymander that followed, state policy network in north carolina funded by the ba bay -- to keep future voters from reversing all the radical changes they have

made, they have put not one but six constitutional amendments on the docket this fall, including voter id and a cap on top income rates. with these elements in the grand strategy of context let me turn to three key implications. first, what has made this audacious enterprise possible and ever more effective is something we have never seen before in american history. that is, a concerted project by one extremely right-wing multibillionaire who has taken upon himself the network he has built to radically alter our world. let's be clear, never before has this much money, time, and political power been wielded on behalf of individuals on elected and on accountable to the people. second, gaining control of the courts is vital to this project. the court will decide how the

law is going to be applied in the battle against democracy as we know it. they miss to overwrite how democracy works from how we vo vote, to what we are allowed to vote on and how we are represented. one of the greatest victories in this class would be something almost no one has been talking about this past week, it's a key part of why the koch network is working to get him confirmed. the koch cause speaks to the commerce clause that has enabled all federal regulations in the 1930s. it is a legal strategist left behind in the attack on private-sector unions explained. we want to withdraw judicial support. my last and final point in all

of this, what should be the goal of those who believe in government of, by, and for the people? inform, inform, inform. of course, inform your colleagues and constituents, but do not stop there, all americans need to understand how this libertarian system is at odds with our system. i'll close as i started. the janus really cannot be fully understood without recognizing the larger radical right that produced it. if that project is not stopped soon by making use of the democratic tools that we still have, we'll find ourselves living in a country that none of

us would recognize and one by design that would be impossible to change, even with superrich majority demand. thank you for your consideration. >> thank you very much. we also have christine marsh who teaches high school english at a high school in arizona. she is a member of the national education association, she sees firsthand the effect of janice, she was the arizona teacher of the year in 2016 in a democratic candidate for arizona state senate now. we welcome her to this proceeding. >> thank you senator for giving teachers a voice in this very important discussion. my classroom is set up in a circle, kind of like this, very much for that reason, giving students a voice. i want students to know they have a voice and to know their voice matters. the same philosophy has propelled me through 26 years of teaching, it's probably one of the reasons i was named 2016

arizona teacher of the year, giving teachers a voice is one of the reasons i belong to the association and the arizona association for 26 years. during my tenure as teacher of the year, i went to the arizona state capitol almost every single week. i met with legislators on committees. someone from aea was almost always there. they were fighting first students just as i was. witnessing that firsthand has made me more loyal member. in the post janus world, i expect educator activism to grow. i know from first-hand experience that teachers are not going away, they are not going to be silent. if anything, the have started to

recognize what professor mclean has referenced, this spring, before janus was decided, the aea teamed up with a #, red fred movement. for the first time in arizona history, educators rocked out of the classroom and gathered at the classroom to protest working and learning conditions, nearly 70000 people, mostly teachers took part in the weeklong protest, and help them realize that they do have a voice that i referenced earlier. they can indeed use that voice. now, the numbers of educators involved in related activities like ballot initiatives and legislative cantee campaigns cos to grow. the red fred movement gives me hope. i hope it gives some of you hope as well. we need that hope in this post

janus world, world in which teachers and all public employees are under attack, in response, we are becoming more engaged, speaking out, and organizing both locally and nationally. as we have seen in arizona and on the national level, we are fighting groups with endless amounts of money, again, professor mclean has referenced and they will not be given up there chance. but, we also know that no amount of money can silence america's teachers. we'll continue to fight to keep education thriving and ensure educators and students get respect they deserve. want to close by thinking he for inviting me and teachers in general to be here and by assuring you that educators will fight any and all attacks on

public education. thank you. >> thank you. we are delighted to be joined by melanie, she is a member of fci you. she is a homecare worker in illinois, she wrote an op-ed earlier this year featured in the hill that discussed the difficulties of serving as a homecare worker and discuss the attacks on homecare worker unions. please proceed. >> good afternoon. my name is melody benjamin, i'm a homecare worker from chicago aside and a proud member of sei you healthcare in illinois. i want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to allow me to why hit and what have in a union means for working people means. and why the efforts to divide us

hurt our country. in our union, we have the same as homecare workers, invisible no more. that is because before that, brave homecare workers back in the late '80s organize the home care workers. they were only making as little as a dollar an hour. nobody was recognized how hard overwork it is and demanding it is. and basically give us real wages. nobody here has more homecare workers have joined together in my union, we continue to speak out for better wages, and other improvements. for the work that we love. alone we are invisible, but together were unstoppable. like those who allow people with disabilities to live in home, i have been through this, i was 28 years old when i was studying to

become a surgical technologist in 2008. my mom started getting sick. as the years passed she later had to have a bypass surgery on both legs because her arteries had blockage. after both that day both their lives change. my mother cannot live alone. i left school and became a full-time homecare worker. at this time i was only making $11.55 with no benefits. of course caring for my moms a 24 hour job. but i don't get pain as much for overtime and i'm under pay. most the times i have to babysit just to make ends meet. so i belong to a union not only to have better wages, but i joined to basically for other week and people like myself as a homecare provider, basically we're underpaid and overworked,

i quickly found out that my union was doing so much and making a difference in this industry, through my union we were working to lift up other homecare providers out of poverty. together with disability allies we join forces and we started advocating for better wages, increase were chaining and opportunities and affordable healthcare. right now, $13 an hour and were shooting for $15 an hour. my union also gave me a sense of hope, when i started the program i thought i was alone. and then my union, and out i met other homecare worker providers that do the same work i do and going through the same struggles. together we identified what needs to be changed in this profession. that gives me the confidence to talk to my elected officials, my

family members and neighbors to create a program and system that works for everyone. in this industry it's played by high turnover rights. were hoping to train new worke workers, the demand is exploding. consider 10000 people turn 65 every day. also consider this is the fastest pace growing jobs in the country. there's simply not enough homecare workers, well-trained or well-paid workers. we have a care crisis. we have a care crisis. you would think that people who want to solve these crisis with support our rights and choose to join unions and make her job better and improve care. wrong. billionaire funders like say policy network and freedom foundation have serious attacks on working people like myself.

these attacks include power and influence to push places like janus versus -- to the supreme court. from the efforts of this they help support a thriving middle-class that we all count on to be there. this includes efforts to repeal the affordable care act with no replacement. and medicare and social security. and using this i'm sorry, with comments basically trying to keep us quiet. president trump nominated brett kavanaugh last night and confirmed that he would be first -- among working people. he had cited tide and time again to get's working people like myself. and you and your colleagues, please don't forget that the decision directly affects me in my community. the supreme court make make

decisions here but the rest of the world has to live with the consequence. in closing, no amount of money, dark money will stop us. we will continue to fight to provide care. fighting to protect medicaid for the people we care for, the freedom to come together and the union is a basic right. it's about our future and how her country will take care of our seniors and loved ones. we need to stand up for those who use their wealth and power, by making it easier for working people everywhere to join a union and have their voices heard. we won't be invisible anymore. >> thank you. i appreciate that. >> ms. weingarten has arrived. she is still getting herself sorted out in her seat, i will let her take a quick breath,

randi weingarten who taught history in brooklyn wrote to become the president of the knighted -- of teachers. she is now the national presidents of the american federation of teachers, representing a significant population that is directly affected by the janus decision. we are delighted you are here to make your comments, let me say that the order of arrival with senator clover shari and shaking, senator udall, senator reid and her own oh, and senator murray, and at the conclusion of ms. weingartner's remarks so returned to senator clover sure. >> thank you senator. >> i am honored to be here. i am here on the eve of our

convention which is happening in pittsburgh. what we are seeing is an amazing sense of our members that they are sticking with the union. something has shifted in the last few weeks and months. frankly in the 20 years, the 25 years of union efficacy that i have done, i have never seen one i've seen now. i want to start with that there is a lot of hope in a very dark time. we are union of teachers, bus drivers, school staff and health professionals, and adjuncts in public employees. what we talk about this year's

caring, fighting, and showing up not just for members but for the community we serve. ultimately, this is what we are seeing, not just in the state where there were teacher walkouts, but through millennial's, others, people get that unions are the best vehicle working people have to make a difference in their lives in workplace. unions, as you know negotiate everything from manageable class sizes to safe staffing and healthcare facilities to ensuring that special needs kids have the services they need to safety on the job and in communities. workers covered by contracts in somewhere between 13 and 20% more on average than non- workers. they're more likely to have health insurance, paid leave in retirement. what we are seeing is that even in the places where the lowest

is, where there is very little that helps people in terms of loss like him west virginia and oklahoma, like in arizona, people are willing to reject despair at the strategy and are saying enough is enough. while we are also seeing is that the state that most of you come from, the states that are invested in the states with the greatest union density in the best services. so, simply put it is not just that our members get it, communities get it, even in this hugely polarized country we have right now even in the midst of teacher strikes we saw some

polls that people supported in teacher unions and agreed that teachers were not paid enough. that's a huge difference than ten years ago. the janus case came out as we had expected. but justice kagan nailed it in her dissent when she said her colleagues were overthrowing a decision entranced in this nations law and economic life for more than 40 years. as a result, prevents the american people from making important choices about workplace governments. it was there were it's not mine which she said the majority was weapon icing the first amendment, and amendment perverting the amendment that is intended to securing political freedom necessary for democracy. not an amendment intended to equate money to speech as senator whitehouse has said.

let me just ended my last minute about what i started with. the same day that janice was decided, 2400 faculty at oregon state university joined and right now, we are at our largest numbers ever, ever. and we have been preparing for this for quite a while. what it has done for us is it has change the nature of our union from one where the unions saw that they outsource their power to where the elected leaders to wear members see power within themselves. as a result, the decision of the 800,000 people who are affected by this, over 500 30,000 have already signed new union cars. the day after the decision, the mackinac center supported by

jesse devoss, they had teacher e-mails across the country, one should wonder how that was allowed. what has happened is people are pissed that they would use their school e-mails, regardless in our union meeting if there's ten people there you'll get 20 opinions. what they don't want is the koch brothers or others to take away their powers and rights. that's where were seeing. people are not dropping, their joining. you hear the defiance in my voice, it is because people are sticking to their union because they understand that what we can do together is impossible for people to do alone.

thank you. >> we have the ranking member on the health education committee and a senior member of the democratic leadership in the senate. >> thank you. i just want to say few things. thank you for organizing this and for witnesses for being here today. and to share your stories on house dark interest money campaigns are hurting our economy, we know that for more than a century unions have organized to lift up the voices of average workers who otherwise would not be heard and look at their benefits, we know that unions help create the 40 hour workweek and strengthen the middle class, they are essential part of our families in this

country. we know that unions are empowering workers every day to have a better workplace, better pay and including the countless teachers we are amazed to watch. meanwhile, we have seen corporate special interests spending billions of dollars on political campaigns and lawsuits trying to chip away on these. we see decline in union membership, were thinking this will create a backlash to this. were seeing wages stagnant for families. meanwhile, the billionaires are getting richer. this is a very important hearing. we appreciate your participation. i do want to mention the supreme court. were obviously here talking because of janice, we have a new nominee. i've to say that judge kavanaugh has a long history of ruling and favors of corporations at the expense of our workers.

we are fighting back, but we need people to understand this. your voices will be critical. i am proud to introduce the work workers freedom to negotiate act we understand how important this is. your stories and compelling testimony will help us make the case. thank you for being here. >> thank you. the. >> thank you so much to the white house for holding this important hearing. i also wanted to mention the fine work with the public freedom to negotiate act. i am proud to be a cosponsor. >> i myself was looking at some of justice kagan's remarks including what she said during

the oral argument. that these would be unconstitutional, contracts are invalidated. and they cover millions may be over 10 million workers. i am so glad to hear that people are joining the union. what are some of the strategies you are dealing with, not only from a union perspective but from your incredible members and for teachers across the country, even though not in your union. thank you for that. >> i actually think it comes down to one word, engagement. with member engagement comments community involvement, it's people understanding what the stakes are, it is creating pathways, it is getting through the fear and frustration and the polarization and re-creating trusts.

in february 2015 we came to an executive council meeting. we had an intense conversation about how to reengage in a different way, how to look at this notion that the leader can do it all for the members, how to create different pathways of engagement. we started with one-to-one conversation. we have had over a million one-to-one conversation. in january, february 2015 on, given what we saw in the brief, we said, let's not wait to re-sign up people, let's take the risk of having a

recommitment strategy in the 23 states. so, that gave us a good way of doing education and also engagement. so, we are doing a clearinghouse legal work, guess for example we had a conversation with about 60000 members, andy pallotta was on, our leaders from a couple of other states wrong, the doing other things you would expect, but it is really this engageme engagement. >> thank you. i want to say thank you for your good work. , you know the nominee had been focused on healthcare, i think you look at the pattern of his decisions. one was to look at the consumer protections.

and something that was set up to save the average americans a bad behavior of wall street banks and the like. >> politics are looking at the issue of the court in quite different ways. what one sees on the moderate side of the focus on particular issues, whether healthcare, abortion or workers rights, what you see on the right is a systematic and steady focus on framework. the framework that supports all of the issues. as a historian i'm concerned as a watch this judicial nominee

and the conservative all movement that's so heavily funded by the dark money network convened by charles koch and others, people are not getting this is really an effort to transform the constitutional framework of our country. these are smart people in strategic. it's an integrated plan and you don't go to the most extreme thing right away. it is systematic. i want to give you another quote so you will understand this meant that millions of americans got healthcare for the first time. their children could get healthcare. everything they regard. here is what the legal strategist set up the aca. i won't use the first word.

but they said this has to be killed as a matter of political hygiene. i do not care how it is done, whether it is dismembered if we drive a straight trance state. heart, or whether we strangle it. this is a law professor and the koch funded law firm talking about a bill that brought health care to millions of americans. that tells us a lot about the strategy of this network. ultimately the one undermined this. it sounds so extreme and trust me we had those moments doing this research. >> i also want to thank you for your good work in teaching. my mother taught school but

until she was 70. a proud member of her union. thank you for your work. i will ask about the silver search that were seeing later. the aging community and how that will affect the need for their workers like herself. >> thank you very much for holding the hearing and thank you to our witnesses for your testimony. professor mclean, i want to follow up on the emotion. the average american does not believe this and one of the challenges we have is how to convey to them that this is real and that we need to do something about it. i was particularly struck by your last, that if we don't do something soon it will be irreversible.

have you thought about how to get across the message to americans that this is happening and how to persuade them that it's real? >> is such an important question. i don't know that my experiences necessarily representative but or been talking all kinds of audiences and i have been stunned and inspire to the degree to which americans of all walks of life and commitment different churches and community organizations, people are understanding that something is going radically round. that our democracy is being rigged and strangled. i find people in red states understand this particularly well. they seen it happen. many done in secret in the dark without the usual procedures. i think the american people

might understand more than we give them credit for. i don't even know if the pollsters know how to ask the questions. it's quite interesting that two of the surprise presidential candidates in the 2016 election both have a message that the system was rigged. i think it is extremely important that we approach this with a sense of how much we have built together of the people throughout the years. pleased to have -- the started on fire, we don't have that anymore. i don't think we've taken adequate credit or understood how important government is to that. it's very important to reclaim that receipt so that people understand if we are not in this together, we are all on our own.

you're on your own for everything. if this libertarian cause wins and achieves what it wants to, you will be on your over everything. to pay for education because it will be private, to pay free your retirement because they will have privatize social security and medicare. and to not look to your fellow citizens for help. i think if americans understood it they would stop it. . .

i started my career as a teacher so i have an appreciation for what teachers do. can i ask you to talk about what a difference it has made being a part of your career field? >> being in the union has empowered me to not only be a strong voice for my family and community but as well as by other home care workers that provide the same care that i do. i joined because i wanted to be a part of the union. the work we do is very vital. we are able to join collectively for better wages and benefits. health care some people just take for granted health care is paid and they provided that because members like me stood up

and basically bargained for it. it gives us the right $15 an hour to have a living wage. they already passed in massachusetts, oregon, seattle washington, los angeles this gives us hope. being in a union as i kind of alluded to in my speech has given me a voice. i want to go through one anecdote that kind of delineates the power of unions took a. in the spring in arizona the movement was taking off which was kind of going around the country and that was pretty much

grassroots. aea, the arizona education association came in and supported the grassroots teachers that had enough and finally started to realize the nonsense that is happening so they are rising up without the infrastructure to really do anything, to have the resources to buy enough water to make 60 or 70,000 people safe. so the aea came in and offered that foundational support for the grassroots movement and that is pretty much what the union has done throughout my career

allowing devices to come forward by providing the foundational support a that they need in order to be effective. all four of your stories coming from a different perspective are inspirational. i don't remember that sticking with a union song. have you seen that what she's talking about over the last 17 months in this decision of things that have come down are the average folks getting riled up and really wanting to fight

back? >> yes. the teachers are woke as the kids would say. [laughter] because of your action there is no doubt that is why you got the 20% raise in arizona. >> that is part of the false narrative, but yes that is why we got a significant rate. >> the workers are signed up talking to other workers and basically that is our only platform because it isn't anybody else giving us platforms to have a better way of living wage benefits. so, yes they get it. once you explain how it is going to affect them directly, they get it they are ready to roll

and they are not going to stop. >> you talked a lot about the coke brothers and the secret money and how they are hiding at all. this question goes to both you and randy very quickly. if you add all of the money in a scale fighting the battle my sense is that we are being totally outgunned on the money. is that your sense? all of these organizations have talk radio handle things like the universities to add up what we are doing on our side.

we are being outgunned by one other thing which is what i see changing right now which is frustration and despair because that's what donald trump did and what the right wing does. they use the dog whistle, despair and fear. so in some ways it in mobilizes people. when you have that human shield in arizona, the human shield is that many people wearing the same color created a political necessity on these right-wing governments to do something so it really is this kind of old-time people versus money.

i think we have to do two things at the same time. number one, we have to call them out. in our space, people get it because of the amazing hearings senator murray and other state in the nomination they get it. the brothers have now become a household name. we are exposing them and so the education is important. i'm sorry i'm a broken record about this as the engagement and connecting the dots and connecting it to the things that matter to people like the fight on pre-existing conditions a tremendous amount is being spent on the right as you say that doesn't have a counterpart on the other side and yet i would

agree with randy to say the old adage that there's two sources of power, money and people that has mobilized billionaires and multimillionaires in the way that they have is because they disagree with the majority who believes in social security and believes in public education and wants action on the climate and wants to support teachers in all these other things they understand they can't persuade a majority said they are trying to go around the majority by funding the organizations by operating and misleading people about the climate, about voting etc.. so, i do think that we need to keep in mind that there is a majority that can be activated in the way that my union friends here at the table are talking about. and we also could think more strategically going forward

because there are so many people on the other side focusing on the issues of the homeless and issues involving police violence or women's rights would have you and we tend to be in silos and not in any kind of alignment. one of the challenges to the threat of the democracy presents to us but also maybe create an opportunity is that we have to recover a narrative of who we are as a people and as a majority together and the things we share and values, the commitment to fairness etc., so i think we can do that and also as we do this work of organizing we also have to pay a lot of attention to this change because that is the strategy of the other side. if you don't like the outcome of policy in the libertarians of the 20th century, and i'm serious if you don't like the

outcome of the policy stop thinking about who rules and think about the rules. the strategy on their site is not to talk about person of the war who's going to be in office but who is going to get the framework changes the font so i think we also have to be laser focused on the rule changes in order to use a fought this effort. >> there's no question that these kind of rule changes have been decades long efforts by the extremely conservative groups in the country with a lot of money and in fact millions of dollars was spent just to get neil on the court and they are not going to stop with him. so, i do want to acknowledge senator murray is bill that would strengthen the act and i want to mention that there is a

counterpoint to that which is the freedom to negotiate which many of my colleagues, 33 of my senate colleagues have joined me and basically this act sets a minimum standard for that to enable public sector workers to unionize the conditions. it's how important the public sector unions and our workers provide the kind of services we all rely upon every single day. i don't know how many home care workers are members versus the

number of home care workers there are in the country. i'm aware of the importance of the home care workers because in my own family i have a home care person who comes to my house to take care o of by another 12 mys a day every day and i don't think we could even come and with a situation if it were not for that. so, did you know how many people who do your kind of worker in the union and also if you and other members have been contacted by '80s forces to stop paying your fees? >> i don't know how many asked for has been contacted i have received e-mails and mailings stating you can't opt out of the union and still get the benefit.

it's another way of them trying to cripple us and basically false leading other healthcare workers that are not into the organization or do not have enough education about it. yes, they have reached out plenty of times >> reaching out to the thousands across the country as well as the people in the public sector union. it is part of a pitch they would say don't you want another $200 a year more to help your family pay for groceries and all that is kind of appealing. >> basically you put more money into their pockets they are going to think about it like i'm going to have this much in my pocket but in reality they don't know what's good for them they are basically trying to keep

them down. but the union has done thus far we bargain health care and better wages. we've seen improvement of the lives of people never had it before. if home care workers back in 2014 find them and they didn't know they were in a perfectly union. they don't do what is going on with their jobs and informed them they sign up and want to fight and keep their jobs >> thank you senator white house and senator stabenow thank you to all of you be of some o havef the strongest unions in the

country. that is why i am so glad we are having this hearing and so proud to fight alongside all of you. you. let me follow up on a conversation that started with senator hirono after this decision reaching out to public sector workers saying you don't have to be part of the union. what are you doing to counter that is there any type of strategy that you are looking at or taking, just curious or is it something we don't want to share? >> we hav have been members in n various different locals that setback the e-mails that they've gotten with words that if i use them right now, as the professor

said, i would have too much money and i swear jar. individual members and locals have basically set a whole bunch of things back to these folks i'm going to sue you for invading my privacy. so that's number one. number two, we are actually looking at a bunch of different legal options, that's number three, we are exposing this. they really want to be found and destabilize us and particularly before the november 18 election.

they want to disable everything about collective work. with the press conference all of you on the bill it's so important because that sends a counter message, so one, we expose it and number two we are actually cheering on and telling the stories about frankly most of us are not even using the word janus anymore we are just trying to talk about how to do back in school and work with governors and mayors and others that want to work with us and how do we actually show them

their misuse of the law and the courts are not going to decide people who want to join together. >> and that is great because that is the answer that we all need to be doing is shedding a light and shoving who is really behind the activities and discussion earlier on now we need a strategy to focus on education and engagement is key and i think that is why we are here we want to make sure we are partnering with you and you were also telling us what we can do to support that education and that engagement. educate, engage, expose and empower. >> thank you for the work that you have done. i go to the state of nevada and people know who thethe people kd i can tell you they will say the

same thing they sent millions of dollars to defeat me and there is a reason why, it' if it's for their own political gain. we know that and i think more that we shed a light and show what is happening here is going to be the key to the workers, the individuals fighting for their family, fighting for their community. so, thank you for being here. i sat down with our health workers that have the same concerns that you do and they are a strength in unity. because the unions do have the ones in a strong union we have stronger communities and that is the key to the. we look forward to the collaboration and fighting alongside of you. >> thank you, senator white house for convening this

important hearing and to all of the witnesses for your work and advocacy and commitment to someone we are a self-governing union we can come to did decide as a group what to do to make the american dream possible for all of us. and i thank you for shining a light on the supreme court decision. it's truly an unfortunate victory for the corporate special interests at the expense of the americans. the decision weakens the ability to bargain and fight for good wages and benefits for the workers undermining efforts to ensure that all of us in all workers in particular can share in an economic growth. and going to continue to fight to protect the right to collectively bargain to expand middle-class opportunities and ensure that all hard-working americans have the ability to get ahead and stay ahead. i want to use the rest of my

time today to focus on a particular workforce challenge that will likely impact everyone of us at some stage of our lives and that is the one that you represent, ms. benjamin. you talked about what benefits you and your colleagues have been able to gain by the membership of the union. i want to drill down a little bit to what the impact means not only for the workforce but also for the people that you served in that role. in new hampshire it is estimated 70 to 80% of the page hands-on care for the adults and individuals have experienced disabilities is provided by the direct care workers including personal aides and nursing assistants and the demand for the workers is expected to increase 49% between now and

2022 further exacerbating the workforce shortage that already exists in many communities across my state and across the country. from your own experience what do you believe are contributing factors to the shortage of the home healthcare workers and do you believe the actions taken will exacerbate the shortage? >> that reason as being a healthcare worker provider because you can't live off this work, there's no benefits. you basically have to have another job to just make ends meet. what i do believe it's all the money the billionaires are putting into the program take that money and put it into the community.

the is the situation if it were not for the direct care worker coming into the home hoping that loved one with a disability or chronic illness or disease or whose aging, the direct care worker is enabling others to go to work and support the family. am i right? so we end up in a situation where they have to give up for themselves and rely on public assistance to keep their loved ones safe. >> exactly. they want to keep them home. >> if they put them into an institution that costs more money. >> we are saving more at keeping them in their home giving them the dignity and respect they deserve. that they deserve. >> said in the turn it is fair for the workers, direct care workers for teachers in all of the public servants to be able to advocate collectively bargaining for dignity and

returned. that is really what you're asking for. >> that's all we are asking for. >> thank you very much for completing this hearing again. >> thank you, senator white house and senator stabenow for organizing the gathering and thank you all for your testimony. i do think it's important that we remind folks unions have been the engine of economic opportunity in the united states over a long period time. it was the ability of people to come together to bargain with people who didn't want to pay them more into that allowed more people to get more of the productivity they provided back in the form of wages. and we all know that as the unions have diminished in power over a long period time, the productivity of the workers put into their jobs has not been matched by constantly rising

wages and that is the biggest challenge of our time. it's been a very concerted effort to people who don't want to pay the worker their workersy are determined to undermine the vehicle powers. you also see it when it comes to the effort to prevent lawsuits if you are a big corporation and you take away the ability of a consumer to band together with other consumers to bring a lawsuit it means that one person against a big corporation and they don't stand a chance. so we see this in many forms. we are interested in more detail how you were successful because we are looking at arizona. we also saw the teacher movements in west virginia and oklahoma. in the past that sort of right-wing organizations have been successful convincing folks

in the public that the unions are just out for themselves and you were clearly successful in persuadinpersuading devout repun arizona public had a stake in helping the teachers to secede because the they were also fighg on the front line frontlines top students succeed. can you talk about how you were successful converting your movement into public support because that is going to be essential as we go into this battle making those connections and i'm curious as to how you did that. >> i think a lot of what unfolded started years before. we had a couple of local columnists who have been on the side of publishing.

there's been a lot of support for the fact that teachers we have a teachers retention crisis. we finished the school year with roughly 2,000 classroom vacancies. my classes are not at 30 students per class and i think that narrative, teachers and the help of other more friendly powerful people who really brought that up. so by the time the teachers walked out, we already had a great deal of public support and there was one other thing that we did that i think was probably

a game changer and i don't know if other states did this as well. but we had walk-ins. so a couple of weeks before the eventual walkout we would have a walk in and we invited the community and kind of hoped walking arm in arm and walked back into the campus and i think that visual of that happening across the state was incredibly powerful. and really had a lot to do with the success of the eventual walkout. >> in your testimony you believe in the educator activism that's going to grow.

now people realize that you've got a supreme court stacked against teachers and that message was sent out and clear so i know we are focused on getting the kind of engagement talked about and hoping to learn the lessons from your ability to let the public know when you have all those vacancies it is hurting their kids and the future of the state and the same is true when you've got hospital workers that are not being paid adequately it hurts everybody. i know we are going to follow very closely with what you did, and i look forward to continuing the conversation to learn those lessons because you've clearly connected the low pay for teachers with the fact that peoples kids and the education of their kids was suffering as a direct result and we need to

make that connection across the board. >> the last two members to engage with you. senator wyden has a position as a ranking member of the committee touching on many of the issues that we talked about and i couldn't be happier that he's here and we will follow-upp with our host and the leader senator stabenow. >> thank you for putting together this important hearing and i want to thank all of our guests as well. we have been reviewing the record and he looks to me like if confirmed he would be a poster guy for powerful corporate interests and dark money. you look at his record, for example his position on net neutrality which looks to me

like higher rates for working families all of you represent and it's not as if we don't have incredible challenges right now to keep dark money from seeping into the campaign finance law. we barely held off on the effort to repeal the johnson amendment, which would have been the biggest gift to dark money since citizens united basically would have allowed churches to be used to carry out this agenda by an effective using the tax law. all of you have given very thoughtful presentations, and i think what i would like to ask of you is if he is confirmed, what would you be th most worrid about with respect to a

expanding corporate power and dark money having listened to senator white house and other experts my sense is that a sympathetic court would take citizens united and say no limit at all, whatsoever and the senators could practically be sponsored by a powerful corporate interests for all practical purposes that would be the case. so, why don't you if you would, because you are an expert on these issues of campaign finance, corporate power and dark money, tell us what you would be most worried about this individual is confirmed and seated on the court.

i think the affordable care act is great to b pretty crucial ing the strange case of justice roberts decision in the affordable care act case will be an occasion for as i said undermining interpretation of the commerce clause which has enabled all federal regulation. so, the justice roberts of 70 colleagues on the right by supporting the affordable care act and said it shouldn' shoulda license to regulate citizens from cradle to grave no one suggested that but he did put that in the record and some court watchers have suggested that the ones creating a kind of

precedent that could be built to undermine the affordable care act which depends on the interpretation that allows the federal government to regulate and one stanfor stanford law prr called it a loaded gun, those were his words, aimed at the interpretation of the commerce clause that holds up not just the affordable care act but so much more. i would also say -- >> that is very perceptive you have three members of the finance committee who care a lot about the affordable care act. isn't it the case that depending on what he did with the commerce clause in a case like the one that was making its way through texas and will end up in the supreme court, that could be used as a precedent in terms of the commerce clause stretch to

do even more damage on health and the environmental policy and the reason i ask that, i don't know if you all got into it late last night, the white house sent out a sheet with respect to all the cases where they ruled in favor of these interests. so you're concerned about the commerce clause from the standpoint of the act and possibly what it might mean for even more damage in the environmental health area. >> the commerce clause does sound wonky but the fact is it is the framework for so much of what we depend on in the country and i think we need to help the american people understand that and there's anotheif there is at is involved that we also need to have hard conversation with the

american people about and that is the reality of the good functionindecodedfunctioning soa women's two function for example traffic regulations, speeding tickets and things like that. the use of the amendment that no one should have to pay dues because it violates the first right to freedom of speech why can't that be used against the tax system? i wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing litigation outfits attacking the requirement people pay taxes for things they don't support that could easily be next so again i would come back to these framework questions that we will not understand the game plan on the other side if we put these things into issues in silos and baskets but instead we need to think about the framework of jurisprudence for a functioning sustainable society.

>> i would be the first to say you can't walk into a coffee shop and get people interested in the conversation about the commerce clause but i do people need to think if people see the government walking away from common sense health and safety policy that will be something that republicans and independents care greatly about so i hope you will continue this work as we continue in the days ahead to examine the record of the justice that i believe based on what i see and your answer is confirmed it looks like she would be a poster guy. >> now the chair senator from michigan. >> thank you so much, senator white house for a terrific

hearing and being with us. one of the opportunities we have a, we have the capacity through the democratic policy communications committee that is set up by the rule in the senate and s said this is the one committee we can actually hold a hearing and i am so glad all of you are here. senator white house has done such incredible work for so lo long. through the wonders of face that i have been listening even when i wasn't here and we thank everybody that hathinkeverybodyn listening to us as well. a couple of comments and questions when we step back and

look at the decades in history is now with the multibillionaires starting with those that were concerned about the inherited wealth and thought that probably wasn't a great thing to get the average working person to rally around to protect the inherited wealth and then the oil company owners not liking it in the 70s when the epa was set out to do with the topic of protect the air and the water and the land and so on they decided we better start controlling the rules and basically to control what people here, so certainly owns radio stations and who owns tv stations and they are now at the

universities so they can say professor at stanford said whatever they want him to say so then going on to the various systems where it is voter suppression or trying to read the systems around redistricting we have seen that in michigan and other things, so now we come to one of the most democratic institutions and that is an organizing unions in so that freedom for somebody to decide they want to get together with other workers and be able to stand up for their safety in the workplace and wages and be able to collectively bargain so we have gone to the heart of what has been essential for people to be about to stand up and be able to organize and certainly michigan is a proud state where unions created the middle class

but even in a place like michigan we've seen the right to work for less and most recently illumination of prevailing wages and construction projects and so on so from my perspective people want to know somebody has their back, whether the rules were fair, people want to know somebody has their back and that they are not in it by themselves and the one other thing i would just observe the reality is we know an when the wages have gone down in dc in michigan when we debate things like nafta and our partners are canada and mexico in canada we don't have a

problem because they have collective bargaining, they have unions and environmental rules and so on s once we have a simir standard of living. mexico is different is a race to the bottom so when a plant is to ask the cubs, they tell me they can't compete with a dollar 57 and our and you wonder why people are upset and frustrated with what's going on so there is a lot to this. it is a big deal which is why i'm grateful that you all are here and have been doing wonderful work where you are and i wonder as we close things out if each of you could again say what you would like people

listening today on facebook as well as all of us what would you like us to do and what should we know that gives us hope if we change? >> the most important thing in my judgment is when people have the freedom to work together, to aspire together they can do but individuals can't answer right wing int and the stark money grs are doing everything in their power to defeat that at the bargaining table but if we expose them and educate the members in the broad community

engage people so they feel their power and not their powerlessness they will be powered. >> you would think i would be trainable as a professor. >> the american people are good and fair minde fair-minded peopt are deeply frustrated with the. reconnect our society, come together, believe in this project templates make it work

and that's figured out ho it's o that together. >> thank you for hosting this. all this is not a conspiracy theory. we flat out need people to vote if democrats voted when they should have been to be in this situation. if we can't fix the framework that is so broken that we can't

go it down by electing the right people into office. >> it's time to get out and vote we need th a law that is going o work for us and not against us. it's a platform for me to voice so when i come knocking on your door, open it. >> this hearing has touched on a lot of topics related to the decision into the sentiment many of us have that that decision was a political project by the five republican judges on the court that they went out of their way to signal to the big special interest lawyers that they would undertake this task for their corporate clients and

then we went through the holes on the -- hole saga so it is a project that shows all sorts of bizarre signals. i am a lawyer. i've been a litigator. i guess my state state's attorny general, united states attorney, i was a staff lawyer doing cases and the attorney general's office. i have never in my life seen a case in which somebody deliberately went to court to lose, please, your honor, let us lose so that we can rush up to what we think is going to be such a friendly reception at the supreme court that we are willing to have the record of ththe taste of having lost the w because we are so confident because the judges are baked in for us that we don't care. that is a peculiar set of facts and that ought to be an alarm

bell. it is a stopping the national election process. we have a president that was not elected by a popula popular votr candidate won the popular vote back in 2010, the decision of the five republican judges of the supreme court again opened up the opportunity for what was called the red map program that allowed the gerrymandering of the entire congressional delegation at the battleground state. the result of the decision by the samthe same part over same y the red map project was in 2010 congress went democrat in the popular vote by over a million votes but i'd republican by over

30 seats. so we have had cases in which the popular vote hasn't been respected at the presidency. because of the gerrymandering that was cleared and because dark money artillery barrage is a kick out of three senate candidate so early in the process they don't have the chance to get their campaigns up and running in an effective way and it was enormous amounts of dark money that the citizens united had put in place but then were deployed and taken out by

strickland and have those three seats gone the other way, chuck schumer would be the majority leader )-right-paren we wouldn't be having this conversation about a far right extremist to undo roe v. wade. and even though we still do not control the senate notwithstanding all this nevertheless they represent 40 million more republicans in the senate -- 40 more because of the small senate largely in the west. we need to have the courage of conviction to your point we need to understand that we are actually not really in the minority. we have more votes for the presidency van trump into the past we won the house but haven't actually gotte got in te house because of machinations in gerrymandering and in the senate we represent more americans than

they do, so we need to be ready to stand up and have some confidence about who we represent and what we can do. as we have seen the teachers do in the states where many of us thought that was highly unprofitable, it was proving what can be done, so thank you all so much for your testimony and for participating in this hearing. we will conclude with that. i'm very appreciative of all of the witnesses and so many colleagues attended. thank you so much it was a really good turnout. and with that, we are adjourned. >> [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations]