design away to be able to help them. we want for them to know there is an entryway into the labour union, and in the past there has not been as in the community. over the last several years, we began to open up doors for them, to allow them into the labor union. we will have to place them. you will see as more on college campuses, trying to get people interested in the labor union. the careers, there is a place for this in the labor movement. we need some organizers, we need to social conscience, we need everyone to know that we will be -- this will be the place for us to be.

w we are the place to be and where the action's at over the next several years. >> you sketched out an exciting future. i'm looking forward to seeing that put in action very much. now i'm going to turn the questions over to the audience. i'm going to start first with members of the media. we have 15 or 20 minutes for the remaining questions. if you raise your hand i'll start with you. gentleman on the aisle. christine will come around with christine will come around with the microphone. >> thank you. terrell jones. this strategy targeting young workers a move to keep various issueses alive after efca. how concerned are you regarding efca? >> first of all, talking to young people isn't just about efca, it is about the future of the country. when we release the study tomorrow i think people are

going to be astounded. we did the same study innet and ten years later young people are far worse off. it is almost a lost decade for young people. they do need to get involved and collective bargaining will help them get into that. let's talk about the employee free choice act and its importance. it is not just a union issue, it is a stimulus issue, an economic recovery issue. from 1946 to 1973 productivity in this country doubled and so did wages. it was the largest distribution of wealth that the world has ever seen and the most interesting part about that time is the people in the bottom two quartile, their wages were rising faster than those at the top so the wage gap was closing. from '73 to date, productivity has continued up, but wages have stagnated. as a result, workers have gone

through four or five different strategies to try to compete. we work more hours. we sent more people into the work force. we got a second or a third job. then the '90s came and we borrowed on our 401(k) and that busted and we borrowed on our houses. we've proven over this period of time you can't drive an economy with debt finance consumer spending. we need a new engine. the only way you do that is you put money in people's hands so the consumers can actually drive and grow the economy in a real sense. that is what the employee free choice act is intended to do in part. it is not the only solution but it is an interesting and important part of the solution. that's why we're pushing it. we feel very confident we are going to get it passed. we said from the beginning we needed three things, one, an ability for workers to join a

union without being harassed, intimidated or fired. we need ed greater penalties because the employers simply violated the law and paid the fine it was so paltry as a business cost. we need larger penalties that act as a deterrent. we need a way to resolve disputes so people couldn't surface bargain their way out and deny workers and employees the right to have collective bargaining. i feel certain we will get all three of those goals met, quickly and hopefully before the end of this year. >> the gentleman against the wall. >> hi. my name is phil dai. my affiliate is state of the union book. incidentally on page 22 in that book i talk about a charismatic

labor leader named rich trumka the kind of person the labor movement should put up front so i'm glad the afl-cio is following up on that advice. >> phil, you demonstrated you have great wisdom. my question is it seems to 'me labor's agenda is somewhat languishing in congress and in other venues. doesn't this really point out the need for a slightly different political approach by the labor movement to instead of spending all its time and energy and resources electing specific individuals in addition to that labor possibly needs to do more to get its agenda, its issues, its values to be part of the political dialogue and on people's mind when they vote so that after an election labor has a mandate, a balance for its values, its agenda, its issues and labor is not completely

dependent upon the priorities that legislators and other political leaders choose to enact? >> you know, it is an interesting point you made, phil. i'm going to get back to an eighth grade teacher i had. the eighth grade teacher said every time you point the finger at somebody there are three pointing back at you. i want to take the three pointing back at me. some of it is our fault. we haven't mobilized around clear cut issues. i think you will see us do that. stand beside them and defend. if you look at a couple of issues, when we did that with the employee free choice act workers controlled the process, when we cede that to somebody else the process gets muddy. you'll see us after the first of the year -- and i'm hesitant to call it this -- our version of a contract with america.

of course, we are not going to call it that. it is what we think will be necessary to create an economy that will work for everyone. we won't be replicating the old economy where the financial economy did well but the real economy did so poorly. you will see us taking sharper edged positions where we say, this is where we stand. sometimes i think our friends need to go back and take collective bargaining 101 because you can't put out a proposal and have the other side say no and say if you don't like this, try this. and they say no, and you say try this. you don't bargain with yourself and i think frequently we've seen some of that. you'll see us trying to stop that from happening. you'll see us helping the president and the congress do what they want to do in their hearts and in their heads but need the political nudging to get done. we'll be there nudging them from this point on, i think.

>> i'll take a question over there, gentleman in the back. >> press associates union news. you mentioned your other top targets is organizing minorities and specifically african-americans. can you give us some nuts and bolts and are there other minorities that you want to organize? >> mark, i think i answered, i think i included other minorities as well and i said women because i think they have been left behind in large part because of the economy. they get paid less on the dollar than anybody else. you will see us looking at low-wage groups. you'll see us coming up with a strategy for that and trying to bring more and more people into the middle class. trying to provide a ladder for

those that have heretofor have been left behind come in the middle class, that is when we have an america we can be proud of. >> any last media questions before i go to the general -- looks like there is one woman by the tv screen. >> hi. my name is emma ashburn, i'm with a japanese newspaper. it seems like organized labor did do pretty well with the gm fallout and the auto industry. so i was just wond eerring if you can comment on that and the effect it might have on labor over the medium term. >> i didn't hear the first part of your question. >> is this on? >> yes. >> just thinking about there was a positive payout to labor from the gm and auto restructuring over the first half of this year. i was wondering if you could

comment on that and whether that is a big victory and what it might have in terms of an effect on labor over the medium term. thanks. >> you know, american workers, particularly autoworkers, weren't responsible for designing cars. in fact, the laws have currently constituted prevents us from having any input in those decisions and we end up, workers end up paying the price for bad management. now, if you look at the number of autoworkers that are losing their jobs, if you look at their standard of living, you'd have to say they paid a pretty heavy price. we're saving as many jobs as we can and the autoworkers is working as hard as they can to preserve the most for them.

it is tough to call that a victory for the autoworkers or america. because, look, we keep producing less and less and less. there are two economies out there. there's the real economy and there's the financial economy. the financial economy was originally designed to help the real economy do things. somewhere along the line over the last 25 to 30 years those lines have gotten blurred and the financial economy thinks its an end to itself. to the people at the very top it is. and they've done exceptionally well, but our country, each of the states, all the counties, all the municipalities, all the workers, all the retired people and all the children have paid a heavy price for that. it's up to us to turn that around, all of us, collectively and try to start to produce things again, try to create good

paying jobs. look, the question we need to ask time and time and time again, when somebody says let's stimulate the economy, ask them, to what end? because if all we're going to do is create the same economy that we had before, the same result will flow from it. less manufacturing, lower wages for workers, people at the top doing better. ask them what would be the new driver? what will be the new driver for an economy? an economy 70% driven by consumer spending can't have debt finance consumer spending as the driver. ask them. all of them. ask us as well. what's going to be the new driver? because if you don't have one, we're going to do the same thing over and over again and everybody's going to pay the price and this last generation of workers that are -- when you see this study tomorrow, i mean,

it's heart wrenching what has happened to them. can't pay their bills, can't live alone, debt that they're going to pay the rest of their lives. i mean, we can do better than this. we're the richest nation on the face of the earth. we can do better than this. no one will convince me that we can't. so i sort of have a real soft spot in me for all those workers that gave every day of their life they tried to do a good job and tried to create a quality product and now they lost their job and it wasn't their fault. so maybe we can work together to put some of them back to work in good-paying jobs that will re-create the middle class and form a real ladder so that those that are at the bottom can walk back to the middle class. that is where we want to go. >> i see a couple more press

questions toward the back. >> hi. my name is steve brown. i've been an attorney for about five years now. i'm here with myself and i haven't had health insurance for the last -- i've had health insurance for one year of the last 12 years. i know a lot of yup ons and people in the union support a universal health care plan. do you find a lot of businesses support this because it would lower or change their costs and if so, is there any way to motivate any of the politicians that are friendly to us to actually get, if we can't get a single payer anymore to get a public plan to make sure this kind of thing happens so we can lower costs for everybody including people like myself. >> you know that is a great question. i empathize with you and sympathize with you. you are in the same position as millions of americans without health care.

the first part of your question is do any business people support that? yes. a lot of business people do. small business, medium business, manufacturing, even large businesses. we used to have a regular conversation with 12 of the largest ceos in the country. i'm not going to tell you who they are because they'll want to remain anonymous and have deniability. but we met once a month and they wanted hlth care changed dramatically. we worked out something where we both could agree and they went back to the business roundtable and the national association of manufactures and the chamber of commerce and they beat them to death and said you can't do this, you can't do this. so they would not come out publicly and support it. how can gm not support a health care bill that covered everyone? how can they not do it? how can any middle manufacture not do it?

they are getting creamed. it is not they don't want to help their employees. small business people want to, they just can't afford it. there is a lot of support for it. hopefully we'll be able to drag some of it out. when it comes to the public option, 94% of the insurance markets out there are highly concentrated, which means a few companies dominate them and they keep the price up. they can charge whatever they want and you don't have anywhere to go. you can't walk away. you can't do anything. so that's why the public option is so important. the secretary of hhs to be able to negotiate some good rates with everybody on health care, on drugs, and be able to create competition so if that company gets a little out of hand you have somewhere to walk to to the public plan that will keep it down. the interesting part i find is

how disingenuous the other side is being saying we don't want a health plan. some people on medicare, i don't want a government run plan but don't touch my medicare. probably 50% of the people in the country right now are covered by a government plan. if you include government employees, medicare, medicaid, social security and the military probably half the people already are covered by a government plan and they say keep their hands off of it. here is the one bit of hypocrisy i just laugh at, whenever we talk about a public option or single payer plan the pharmaceuticals and hospitals started screaming if we allow the government to negotiate those type prices it would put them out of business. on the one hand they say you can't have a government plan because you don't want them

controlling health care and it is sloppy and government can't do anything and on the other hand they say don't let them do that because it will put them out of business. if the government is sloppily run what does it say about them? you pick up your tab, it goes up. in the last seven or eight years health care profits have gone up 1,000% and prices have gone up for you 300%. it is time. it is time for us to all start asking the questions. it is time for us to give all of our friends on both sides of the aisle a little bit of backbone and say don't let this small minority of people stop what the vast majority of the american public wants, needs and demands. >> the gentleman in the very back, left.

>> hi. i'm mark shef with work force mt. i have a question about efca as it was introduced compared to efca as it may emerge from capitol hill compromise negotiations. do you believe the majority sign up provision will be in the compromised bill and how do you see the arbitration changing in a compromised bill? >> you know, i just said to you that sometimes our friends fail in bargaining 101. unless you have the ability to deliver a bill with me, i won't talk to you where we are willing to compromise or not. right now the bill says it is a card check bill. we are pushing for that and we think we will get a bill passed that will satisfy the three goals we talked to you about.

>> we have a question by the far left here by the tv. can you wait for the microphone. >> thank you. george ghoul. i wanted to identify with a comment made earlier, when you were present with the mine workers you showed that vision you referenced, the ability to talk to people who didn't think they needed to participate or be involved with a union. i have been traveling recently and in those travels i have monitored some of the town hall meetings and i've noticed that -- it's not scientific, but it was pretty accurate, in my opinion, a lot of the people were young people and union people that had retired. they had not put cause and effect together. they were against the things to their benefits. given the predominance in the

internet and talk radio and a lot of the publications, how do you plan to put into place and effective way of communicating with these people so they understand what their needs are and what are the solutions for their concerns? >> thank you, george, for the question. first of all, i think in the past we've been too focused on the top of the labor movement. that is where all the fun stories get written. you talk about the big split in the labor movement. well, the story that wasn't written was that 80% of the locals from those unions that left stayed affiliated with the afl-cio. they were much more in solidarity at the local level. the other thing we haven't done, so we focused too much on the top and we haven't focused on creating a seamless operation from the federal to the state to the local level. we are going to try to be much

more grassroots oriented. try to come out with something we can organize around and educate around. the components of what it would take to create an economy that does work for every working people. we are going to work through a process in order to come up with that. it is not going to be dictated by a couple of policy people sitting at the afl-cio. we are going to meet with our affiliates, people on the ground, young people, with seniors to come up with a real program that meets their needs. and then we'll startage stating and educating and organizing around that. we'll put that out in an election. it is not about -- somebody said this earlier and i may not have answered this part of the question, what are you going to do about getting these things done on your agenda? we are going to organize around that. we are going to have a sharper edge around that.

we are going to do a lot of education around that. we are going to use the central labor councils and local unions to do that. so when election time comes up they'll have an understanding of what kind of economy it takes and what the components are so they can begin to ask people that want their support, which one of these components do you support? then they'll be able to hold them accountable afterwards. the other thing we've done is we've sort of the day after election day we dismantle our operation. we put together this great operation to get people elected and we dismantle the operation. by focusing on the grassroots level we can keep that operation in effect 365 days a year and not only educate, but hold people accountable. that is actually where we want to go. >> we have time for one last question. and there's a woman -- a man up

front. right there in the white raising his hand. >> hi, rich. my question is very simple. i'd like you to say something about trade, trade policy and how it affects american workers. >> well, trade policy has had along with tax policy, has had a devastating effect on american workers. it has -- it has been a one-way policy, if you will, so far. let me start off by saying this. every time we talked about trade policy they jumped and they say you are protectionists, as if there is nothing between no rules and an absolute wall around the country. they don't want to talk about what's in the middle, about a country using trade to help its own economic well being. everybody else around the world does that. we don't. and let me give you one example.

when we tried to pass the buy american provision in the stimulus program people screamed about that, particularly the europeans. oh, this is outrageous. you are being protectionist. and we were trying to stimulate our economy and if we didn't stimulate our economy helping a country that has an economy the size of rhode island doesn't really help in a lot of ways. so if you take just the windmills, if you bought a windmill in the united states it stimulated the economy. if you bought the windmill from offshore, 62 cents out of every dollar went offshore and it didn't stimulate our economy. so we said have that and europe screamed about it. you know what they exclude in their franchise? this is what the european union

excludes, no u.s. company or anybody else can bid on any of these, right? anything dealing with drinking water, anything dealing with telecommunications, anything dealing with transportation and the fourth one slips me right now, but i'll get back to you if it is important if that isn't enough. those are all excluded from what we can bid on but not what they can bid on. we need to look at trade as economic policy not foreign policy. over the last eight years the trade laws feeble as they are have not been enforced. have not been. and as a result we've sustained a trade deficit that is is astronomical and unsustainable. china $250 billion and growing. the overall deficit was $800 billion. it will be down a little bit becaus of the recession and people stopped buying and the

dollar dropped a little bit, but it will still be substantial. as soon as things get better it will start to grow unless we change those trade laws. we have created incentives for people to produce things offshore and given them a guarantee market back there. they didn't go to guatemala before because they weren't sure if the products can flow back. now with the trade laws they can do that. we need to take a look at them. we need to look at what works and what doesn't work and say if we're really going to create an economy that is sustainable, we have to do something about the deficit and the tax laws that go along with it. so we've got a long way to go. enforce what we have. take an inventory about what works and what doesn't work and then start negotiating trade agreements that actually work for the american economy and the american people. we haven't seen that for a number of years.

>> thank you very much. i want to give the audience an opportunity to thank richard trumka. we're thrilled to have you and very much look forward to working with the afl-cio, your vision and leadership there i think will really help american workers for the future. so thank you. >> i want to just thank the center. you've done a tremendous job. we are tremendous allies. i look forward to working with you for a long time for a better more progressive america. >> sounds good. thank you. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> in a few moments, interior

secretary ken salazar on the construction of a memorial at the flight 93 crash site in pennsylvania. in about 10 minutes, massachusetts governor deval patrick announces that the election to replace senator kennedy will be in january. >> this morning on "washington journal," we will look at the legislative agenda in congress. the vice-president of news corp. will discuss his recent opinion piece on the obama administration. our series on health care continues from the virginia hospital center with robyn norman, the chief financial officer and the chief information officer there. "washington journal"is law of every day at 7:00 a.m., eastern.

-- a couple of live events today -- the former israeli ambassador to u.s. tops of the heritage foundation about the threat posed by iran's mission -- nuclear program. at 5:30 p.m., eastern, a forum on how japan's election may affect relations between the u.s. and japan. >> interior secretary ken salazar says the construction of a flight 93 memorial in pennsylvania will begin in november. he made the announcement after reaching agreement with landowners whose property surrounds the 9/11 crash site. flight 93 crashed when its passengers overpowered hijackers, intending to destroy a target in washington, d.c. this is 15 minutes.

>> we will join again to remember the friends and family members and fellow citizens we lost that dead. we will remember the sacrifices of firefighters, police of a sears, first responders, and all those who rushed into the buildings in new york and here and in washington, d.c. we will remember the heroes of flight 93, the people who gave their lives to bring down a plane in a pennsylvania field. what are all employees at interior was on that flight. our memories of that they are still fresh today. the pain is still near. we, as a nation, are rightly committed to public underwriting -- honoring those we lost. that is why i am proud that we

have announced a major step forward to honor the heroes of flight 93. thanks to the collaborative work of many people, the united states, the national park service has signed agreements with all the land owners for all the properties needed to build the flight 93 memorial. this is a critical milestone. these agreements will allow us to break ground on the moral this fall and stay on schedule to completed by the 10th anniversary of the september 11 attacks. today's agreements are the results of herculean work by many people over the last several months. this includes the national park service, the families of flight 93, local when owners, senator specter, and senator casey and others. i have been to the site twice in the last six months to try to find a way for that work for all parties involved. our goal has been to reach agreements with the local

landowners for the property needed to ensure that they receive fair compensation for their land and to stay on schedule for completing the memorial by september 11, 2011. the agreements we are announcing today meet these goals. they protect private property rights and they keep us on a time line that we want for it seven of the eight property owners, the park service has reached a negotiated settlement. the closing on these properties will be complete by mid-october car that will allow construction to begin immediately after oral groundbreaking in november. the park service will acquire an eighth parcel, the owners of this property have agreed with the park service to allow the courts to establish a fair compensation for the property. today's agreements are the product of good faith collaboration at many levels, particularly i want to thank dan wink, leader of the national

park service and want to thank senator specter and senator casey who have been tireless champion of this immoral. the fields of western pennsylvania are hallowed ground for a nation that is internally grateful for the passengers of flight 93. they are heroes and today is a milestone in commemorating their contribution to our country. i could not be more proud that the flight night for memorial wilson stand in their honor. some comments. >> thank you. i would also like to abolish the leadership of secretary salazar for bringing an emphasis to this with the families and with the land owners that we were able to complete these negotiations and also to acknowledge the families and the landowners for coming together with the national park service to complete these negotiations. thank you.

>> thank you, dan barrett as part of the negotiating team on the field, one of our other leaders and dem mcclay, i would be happy to take questions? >> is the entire parcel needed or can reveal the individual parcels? >> the price tag -- i know i had written that down -- the price -- the way that this will proceed is there is a base one for the establishment of a memorial. that will be over $20 million for land acquisition and construction of phase one. that is the heart of what will be immoral for flight 93. a lens that were acquired here will be acquired in these agreements -- the total amount

is about $9.5 million. that amount is reflective of the appraised, fair market value for these properties. >> that does not include the court settlement that is yet to be determined? >> $9.5 million is for the appraised value. >> but not for the eighth property? >> that is included. >> if the court's term and more, the price could go up? >> other questions? are there questions on the line? >> please press start one. >> go ahead. >> what exactly happened with

negotiations with going to the courts have to get the land? >> what was the question again? >> there were going to use eminent domain to get land from that one landowner. >> there was agreement that was reached at the acquisition. the agreement said we needed to have a termination of fair market value and the determination was that the court would make that determination. there will be part service appraisals that will be presented. the court will then determine the value per that is the appropriately of doing it. we have agreed upon process to move forward. it is an agreement that makes sense and at the end of the day, we will honor the principle that landowners will receive the constitutional requirement of

fair market value. >> negotiations were not just going well with doing it without the courts? >> the negotiations on that particular parcel had reached agreement back in january. that was when the determination was made that the way to get to the fair market value would be to have an outside party determined that and in this case it would be the courts. that is what will happen with the eighth property. other questions? one more question? >> can you go in depth about the conversations you had during the negotiations with the land owners? what stood out to you? what was the most important thing to them to make this happen? >> first and foremost, there was a recognition among the lenders themselves that they were victims of what happened from the tragic events of flight 93.

yes, the heroes who we honor here were very much victims, as were their families so, too, was the community of somerset. i think they wanted that recognition and that is consistent with honoring the private property rights of the landowners. that stood out for me. as part of that, there was a sense from the landowners that this was hallowed ground. it was appropriate for a memorial. there was a sense that they want to get it done. they also want to get it done in a way that would not end up in endless litigation that is costly for the one terribly to walk away to say that we did it for the right -- litigation that is costly.

they want to walk away with a sense that we did it for the right reason. i talked with the people about them wanting to be a good make -- neighbor to this tomorrow. at the department of interior, national parks, will forever have a presence in simerset, and our hope is that we will have become a good neighbor policy and support that we have had with so many of our national parks from the country. >> has plans for the moral changed at all? >> the plans are already to move forward with phase one. that is a $23 million effort that will be under way when we start construction very soon. there will be other phases of the more overtime. the plants have not changed. >> construction should start in november? >> yes.

thank you all very much for coming today. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [no audio] >> a couple of cents to tell you to day -- the former israeli ambassador to the u.s. talks at the heritage foundation about the threat posed by iran's nuclear program. that is at 11:00 a.m., eastern. at 5:30 p.m., eastern, a forum on how japan's election may affect relations between the u.s. and japan.

>> massachusetts governor deval patrick has announced that a special election will replace the late senator ted kennedy next january. this is about 20 minutes. >> good afternoon and thank you all for coming. we have all shared some sad and some days this past week, mourning the loss of senator edward kennedy. in addition to losing a great political leader and friend, his passing leaves a big gap in our congressional delegation. under our law, it is up to the people of massachusetts to fill it will have a special election today, in accordance with my responsibility under massachusetts law, i am dedicating tuesday, january 19, 2010, as the date of the special election for a massachusetts voters will have their opportunity to fill this senate

vacancy. later today, secretary of state william galvin will issue a calendar listing be applicable dates and deadlines for the events leading up to the special election, including the primary date. he will put that up as website before the end of today. i encourage the borders of the commonwealth to participate in choosing our next united states senator and i join with them and looking forward to a robust and substantive campaign. in the meantime, without the modest change that senator kennedy himself proposed, massachusetts will not be fully represented in the united states senate. the issues before the nation are historic and unprecedented, from health care reform, to jobs bills, to climate change, and education, the congress is debating some of the most historic and significant legislation in decades, bound to affect all bus for decades. let me be clear -- i wholly

support the special election and the democratic process to fill the remaining two years of senator kennedy's term. i will continue to work with the legislature on legislation authorizing an interim appointment to the united states senate for the five months until that special election happens. this is the only way to ensure that massachusetts is fully represented on told of boaters of the state elect our next center in january. i understand that this option was proposed some years ago. that proposal, at that time, was voted down. i was not here then and i don't know all the reasons why. on the merits, the proposal seems reasonable and wise. i hope the members of the legislature, regardless of their party affiliation, will see that too. our citizens want to be represented continuously over the next five months.

i am happy to take your questions. i want to see where the time. would be leased intersected and that seemed to be the proper time. >> [inaudible] >> i have spoken with the senate president and the speaker numerous times are the last several days about this. the setting of the date is within their power. i think they have set it for as soon as they can. >>ñr [inaudible]

>> i think they have an open mind. they are trying to work their way through it and listening to their members. i don't think it is a certainty that it will happen. i think they are trying to find a path from here to there to honor the very reasonable request of senator kennedy. >> there is no way under the law for the interim candidate to say that he cannot run. >> the lawyers have advised us that it is probably unconstitutional to legislate that for it is my intention, if given this power, to get a personal assurance from the appointee not to run in the

general election out of fairness which candidates. -- fairness to the candidates. it is too soon to talk about names, yet. it depends on how quickly the legislature acts and if they act favorably. in the interest of having two voices and a full complement representing massachusetts, i try to make the best decision possible. it depends on -- you mean september? it depends on how quickly the legislature moves. >> that starts the process. are they acting quickly now? >> i think they are moving as fast as theybo can. i think it is important to move as fast as they can. >> [inaudible] >> this is also premature but

what we would want is someone who understands the issues facing the commonwealth and understands the importance of having those interests served by being a strong voice in the united states senate. i think we would want somebody who is up to speed or who can quickly get up to speed on health care issues and job skills and education initiatives and climate change initiatives before the congress right now. >> should republican governor named the interim? >> i was not here. i do not have to accept the premise of the question. my job, right now, is to think about the best interest of the commonwealth. i think that having a full complement, two voices in the

united states senate, is about the best -- is in the best interests of the commonwealth. we have a stake in the health- care debate right now. we have a stake in the climate change bill and the education initiatives. i think that our interests advise in favor of having a voice representing us, two voices representing us in the united states senate at all times. >> [inaudible] >> i am concerned about and i know that harry reid is concerned about it, as well. i have talked about that. if i am not mistaken, they are in recess until after labor day. i am talking about the united states senate in recess after labor day. the longer they are in recess without our having two voices

there, the greater my concern is for it is that what you're getting at? >> they will be coming back this week. >> i think you should ask del legislative leaders about that. baby they owe to their membership to consult with their members. [inaudible] >> i have heard from senator kerrey was a board with this proposal and shares these concerns. >> did the present speak about this? >> no, no. >> [inaudible] >> i am a democrat.

i believe in democratic values. i believe in the values that senator kennedy reflected and work hard for, caring about being the voice of the voiceless, trying to give people a way up and the way forward. government is not responsible for solving a republic but the government has a role to play in helping people help themselves. personally, ike leggett is enormously important that it be a democrat -- personally i think it is enormously important that it be a democrat but i think we will have a robust race. i think we have a lot of talent in the commonwealth. i think a lot of that talent will come out to compete for this opportunity. >> house from a voice will his staff have in this? >> i have spoken to mrs. kennedy and two staff members

about this. they feel strongly about it because it was senator kennedy's wish that they will get involved as much as they can and as much as is helpful. you're talking about the individual a point? no, i have not spoken with mrs. kennedy or the family about an individual for the position. mrs. kennedy is not interested in the position. >> what would you consider running for the senate? >> know i have a job. -- no, i have a job. i will not seek the position. thank you very much. i am running for reelection as governor. >> did mrs. kennedy tell you directly she is not interested? >> yes.

that is all we talked about. >> were you contacted by the governor for any people that were interested? >> know. did you have a question? go ahead. [g>> [inaudible] >> no, he did not. he was concerned. he was very concerned about the timeliness of our action and an up or down vote as soon as possible. he prefers an up votes. >> [inaudible] >> i contacted by people seeking all kinds of things. all of the above and then some, all kinds of scenarios.

anybody else? yes. just then, everything else went out of my mind. i think i have a great team. i have never -- never had surgery before so it is a mystery. i have a great team. i am looking forward to a speedy and complete recovery. >> is the fate of kennedy's step incumbent upon who is appointed? >> i am not sure i understand your question. do you mean would my decision be influenced on what happens to the staff in place today? >> the step in washington. -- the staff in washington. >> whether to seek to change the law? no, what is an influence -- was

influencing me is that senator kennedy asked. he made the case very thoughtfully, as he would, that massachusetts is two voices in the united states senate at any time but particularly now with the gravity of the issues before the congress. >> what about governor dukakis? ;zk>> i have read that speculan and i think it is too soon to talk about any particular individual. i have enormous respect for governor dukakis. i don't mean to imply anything one way or the other other than it is too soon to get into. >> can you talk a bit about what you have been doing, whether you have made a grimace with doctors tomorrow? >> the answer is yes kabbalah but i have worked but wait for all of that. i and to let the hospital at 6:00 in the morning.

there is preparation and they do the deed and i hope it goes smoothly and i know they do, too. there'll be time in the recovery room in the afternoon tomorrow and, if everything goes as planned, i will be admitted into a room later in the day and spend a couple of days they're learning how to put my shoe on and get out of bed and walk upstairs. >> how long do think this will take? >> certainly one day, maybe two. >> can you top the -- can you talk about the evolution of your appointment? >> you'll need to be honest? "i don't need this had a. -- do you want to be honest? i don't need this headache. saying yes to someone and no to a lot of other people is a problem.

like i said, the senator's interest and my interest are the interests of the people of the commonwealth and the commonwealth need to two voices in the senate. this seems to me to be a nice and rather elegant compromise. it leaves in place and respects the current law that provides for a special election. people will get an opportunity to cast a vote and they will have that opportunity in five months' time, coming in january. it insures the representation for the period of time before then for it is a pretty critical. time. >> [inaudible] >> there is no inconsistency here. i have talked with the legislative leadership here they have assured me that they are moving as quickly as they can, consistent with success.

that means that they have to take the time to talk to their members and build support and organized for the hearing and get the witnesses there and they set the date, as you heard, for next week, given the fact that it is summertime, that is quite reasonable. >> does this create a fire wall , creating a situation where -- >> it is a matter of fairness for the candidates in the special election for the question has been, can you legislate that the appointee could not run. the consensus of legal opinion is that you cannot. it is probably unconstitutional. if given this power, i will have to get that assurance, personally. thank you.

>>"washington journal"is next with the day's news and your calls. the former israeli ambassador to the u.s. talks about the threat posed by a nuclear iran. we will also have live coverage of a forum on japan's elections at 5:00 p.m., eastern. >> we will look at this fall's legislative agenda in congress with michael wilson with americans for democratic action. at 8:15 eastern, the vice president of the news corp. discusses his recent opinion piece on the obama admi