expected to be a big deal in the campaign. right from the beginning, you have drawn a hard-line, thank you do not want to negotiate the rate that you have proposed over three years, $10 and $.10 per hour -- $2.10 per hour. can you tell us why? >> it is not just a big deal for democrats. it is a big deal for millions of people. 80% of the people we are talking about that will get a raise our adults. 54% are parents of kids. over half of them bring at least half the family income. we are not just talking about teenagers getting new jobs, by the way. we estimate about 20 million people get a raise in america. it is a progress bill. economic -- progress a bill. the economic benefits will increase the gdp. this is a progrowth bill.

he asked about why i say $10.10. historically out what we had done in raising the minimum wage back to 1939. all of the years is about a 41% increase. some are higher and some are lower. the average 41%. our rates would be 39%. it is keeping historically with what we have done. the last minimum wage increase that happened under the bush was 42% increase. over three years. the largest was 39% over three years. how do we pick $10.10? i have a chart here that shows about how much the minimum wage has declined in terms of the level of poverty. as you can see, in 1968, it was

what hundred percent of the poverty line. of thet is 81% -- 100% poverty line. today it is almost 20% below. to$10.10 it would get up 107% of the poverty line. the line ofbove poverty and then we index it. from now on, we want to change what is happening in america with low-wage workers. no longer in the future will you and full-time on a job still fall below the poverty line. we will get you above the poverty line and then we index it to keep you above. >> i think that makes a lot of sense. the president himself by one point endorsed a lower minimum wage increased to nine dollars a hour. some states are looking at the same thing. do you have universal support within your own party to go all

the way up to $10.10 so that you can put it on the floor and vote for it? know that anything has universal support around this town anymore. within our party, we have near universal support for this. i have found the more that i why $10.10, some say it was too much of an increase. when i showed what the last increases were, it is in keeping. about the same. we do it over three years. it just gets you above the poverty line. anything less than that locks in, especially if we want to index it, for ever. when people think about it they say we do not want to do that. want to get people above the poverty line. near universal support is so hard in the senate. even within your own caucus, it is not enough to get something

going. we know there opposition from the republicans to the minimum wage. what can you do now to get more support within your party and to get this dealt to the floor? it seems there's bit of a delay bring it to the floor and maybe it is not quite happening. why thenot understand republicans are so against increasing the minimum wage? all of the studies show it is a progrowth policy. it will increase our gdp, a raise in net income. people will have more money to spend. low-wage workers tend to spend every extra dollar they get and they spent it locally. if they are not going to france or england or japan. they are not buying yachts and

stuff. they aren't spending it at local merchants. it has a great multiplier effect. are there any other concessions you ain't you or the supporters could make to draw in your own party? we are to have. we have already adjusted as. was going tose-in happen in three months. we double that. we said six months. we also put in an extension of expensing for capital equipment for certain small businesses, which expires last year. we put that in there to help small businesses that have to buy new equipment. then they do not have to write it off. these are some good benefits. >> when do you expect a vote? >> leader harry reid wants to bring it up after the next break

. we have a break coming up the third week in march. after that we will be on the minimum wage. >> why the delay? >> next week we have another bill out in my committee, a block grant. that will take some time. then the leader i think wanted to come back on the unemployment insurance extension. that takes us up to the break. is a progrowth bill. republican side job loss and they look at the congressional budget office and say the report found take a cossack a million jobs by 2016. cost $6 billion for 2016. horribles a misreading. the cbo report to basically agrees with everything that we have been saying on our minimum wage bill. it has been an increase in net lift people out of

poverty. they said about 25 and people would get a raise. we estimated 28 million people. -- 25 million people would get a raise. we estimated 28 million people. they looked at studies on job loss. here's the kicker. that givenaid was these dynamics, the job loss perd be anywhere from zero million so we will pick 500,000. if you look are there at the data in the cbo report, there is a chance they would be a million job losses and a one in six chance there will be no job loss and actually more jobs. i am just saying. they took this. it could be 100 jobs. jobs.ld be 1000

we could gain some jobs. we will have a hearing like this in a couple of weeks. this will come out. they picked one thing like that to say we cannot do this. there may be some minor job loss. again, compared to 20 million people getting a raise, 14 million kids live in families that would get a raise. think about what that means to families over america. wanted to ask you about the affordable care act. , as thewondering midterm election approaches in november, should the democrats run on obamacare? >> absolutely. >> tell us why. >> i am not running for reelection. politically eying courage the republicans to

run against obamacare. look. we have 4 million people signed up now. these are 4 million people that do not have health insurance before or they had no coverage basically. that is incredible. also we have a number third -- another 31 days to go. we may pick up another million or two. who knows. a lot of people will wait till the last minute until they sign up. i was acting chair of the committee at the time it was passed. what happens, we said it would estimated it will be at 7 million. five or six. we will be close to our original estimates. then one of the major changes i have been talking about this almost all of my adult

lifetime, to change our system. caremerica we have a sick-acr system. if you are sick you will get care. we have very little to encourage you to be healthy and stay healthy and prevent illness. in the affordable care act, every plan out there has within that you can get free preventative services. you can go for checkups, wellness checkups, preventative care, no co-pays, no deductibles. we already have that put in. we started with medicare a year ago. newly and of seniors on medicare millions ofn to -- seniors on medicare going in to get their health check up. maybe they need to change their diet or do something else to stay healthy. they're finding this out. they are taking action. that is a huge change in the

dynamics and health care. republicans want to run against that. they want to get rid of that. be my guest. i think the cuts should run on obamacare, point out all of the should run on obamacare, point out all of the benefits. to the health care coverage that people never had before. >> one of the things that i was curious about was how you feel dogginge republicans obamacare and if they expect it to be a huge issue when they are running for office. i also wondered if you think that the democrats and the supporters of the affordable care act have done a good enough job explaining the law and where you would like to see the explanations improve. there is a lot of misunderstanding and anger about the law. look. anytime you change a huge system

like health care in america, there's bound to be some problems. need i mention the computer glitches? we worked through that. it is a change in dynamics. complexity to it. we are trying to resolve problems for 300 million americans, families. there is going to be some complexity to it. it takes a little time to figure it out and get everything in place. i said this what we passed the bill. think of this as a starter home. the framework is there. now we may have to add a room here, redesign something here. that is what we're going to do. is notordable care act the 10 commandments written in stone for all eternity. it is a starter home, a structure. we may have to modify it a little here. the structure is sound. everybody in america will now

have health insurance. they will have preventative care free. they will not have to worry about their wellness checkups and things like that. this is profound change. if republicans want to run against it, i say be my guest. go ahead. you will find by the time the election rolls around, the american people will say "we do not want to go back to the old system." >> could you maybe give us a letter grade, some sort of assessment, of how well the president and your party have done at explaining health care to the american people/ >> look. we have had some problems. i will be the first to admit it. i was involved in developing this legislation. we have had some problems. there has been a bottom is information that has gone out. that has confused everything. a have had from day one constant barrage of misinformation from my friends on the republican side and from

the pundits out there on this. it is hard to get the truth. there is the old song "a lie gets around the world three times." that is true here, too. a letter grade? i do not know. we have made some mistakes reassure we have. maybe some things we should have done a little differently. these are the kind of mistakes you make when you are making big changes in something as personal to people as their health care insurance. we have had some problems. all, i think we are in a good place now to really .ove ahead in with obamacare it is hard to greater so. right? >> fair enough. can you tell us what is happening in iowa with the

medicaid expansion? what do you think will be the outcome there? >> i do not know. i'm sorry the governor did not just accept medicaid expansion. that would have been the best. that would have been understandable. the governor had a different design on medicaid expansion. some of it i am not objected to. it has to do with wellness. i feel very strongly about wellness and prevention. giving people who are on medicaid to take better care of themselves and get their checkups and be involved in preventative health care. there are some of that that is pretty good. it is moving along in iowa. hopefully, over the next course of the next year or two, i am hopeful people who are on

medicaid will have full access. it would have been simpler to go to the federal system. the state of iowa still could have added the provisions on wellness to that. the governor saw differently. i think every state that accepted the federal provisions on medicaid are doing much better than the states that did not. >> we have about 10 minutes left. i wanted to ask you about the to check service. t the acts that will make it a little easier for women to bring lawsuits. you have said you will mark it up and your committee sometime in these ring. senator reid has agreed to put it on the floor. it has passed the house under democratic control. it did not pass in the senate during the last congress. what is the point of bringing it up again now? it up point of bringing

is because it is the right thing to do. you try to do what is in the best interest of the public ureter that is what we're trying to do. i am going to do that. .- of the public that is what we are trying to do. i'm going to do that. we passed the fair pay act in 1961. that has been in the law but the penalties surrounding that have that people are getting by with discriminating. this update it. it and provides for stiffer penalties for violation of the fair pay act. i am going to bring it up. we're going to bring it out on the floor. hopefully, we will have enough votes to pass it. hope that we will have

enough republicans that will help us past the. already i do not know any now that want to make more women mad at them? the guess that is really point. knowing that the debate might not have shifted since the last time it was on the senate for, to againust an effort maybe point of any disparities that happened? >> i have been here for 40 years. i always think it is fair for a party in power or the minority party to make sure they can bring up legislation that shows people the difference in the parties. bech party are you going to on their side? for women, the democratic party wants to make sure the fair pay act is enforced. republicans do not. who is on my side? minimum wage.

we bring it up because people want to know. to have the knowledge so they know what they are voting for. there's nothing wrong with that. front, welabor thought this very close election down in tennessee with the united auto workers trying to unionize the volkswagen plant. it is very important to the uaw as they try to reach into the where there are these automotive facilities. a very narrow election. what does that mean for the future not only of the uaw but for organized labor in general? we have seen a steady decline of labor union participation over the years. state of labor?

how do you assess this loss? was dismaying about the boat was the amount of money that was poured in knots from the union or the company delkswagen bug from outsiz sources. the coach brothers -- koch brothers were putting money in there. plus there were, i must say this madedismaying statements by public officials that simply were not true. >> senator corker? >> one said he had it from the if they voted not to have the union they would start another line at the company. later on the company came back and said no. we do not make that statement at all. the damage was done by public

official. tennessee are saying that members of the state legislature, if this passes we will not give them any tax benefits in the future. they will not be able to expand. volkswagen,ompany, that do not care. they do not take a side. germany is fully unionize. they pay their workers well. quite frankly, they make a pretty good product. here they come to america and it was not a company that defeated the union. they were fine with the union. it was outside forces. that is what is dismaying. it is something new that i has not really happened before. the you -- the uaw has taught a complaint with the relations board. we have a full board for the first time there in a long time.

outcome know what the will be. i know they have piled an appeal. >-- filed an appeal. >> that says, how do you think labor should fight against these forces if it hopes to remain relevant? >> i do not know what the nlrb is going to find. it seems to me the people that voted no, i'm wondering if they're having second thoughts because they may have taken to heart, and made by public officials that simply were not true. re e there needs to be a -vote on this. not to ignore the last bailiwick, i wanted to ask you. ice and a lot of time with the

tea party for other stories in the last couple of months. timehave spent a lot of with the tea party for other stories in the last couple of months. they say arne duncan is one of the most powerful in history because of the inaction of congress to reauthorize the no child left behind act. do you agree with that statement? what do you think can be done to and stick -- unstick the stuck education laws? >> i cannot believe there's something i agree with the tea party on. arnie duncan is powerful. he should be. congress cannot do anything. we all agree we should get over it. we cannot get anything done. then we have the higher education act. i will try to bring up the

elementary and secondary education act. we know the republicans will not be there to vote for it. its congress advocates , then thelity secretary has to take over into things. nobody wanted to keep no child left behind going with the terrible provisions. secretary duncan is coming with the waivers to allow schools to get out from underneath that if they will do certain things. a lot of the things are basic that we have in our legislation. the republicans will not let us pass it. i think duncan is doing a great job. he is doing a great job. to pass the legislation. they house is to pass them. we need to go to conference and work these things out. i do not know if we can get it done. >> we will have to leave it on that annote.

thank you for being here. we're back here with our reporters. let's begin with the minimum wage. when is this likely to come to the floor, if at all? >> we do not hear a whole lot of new information on minimum wage. it sounds like the prost x are not good at this link. we -- the prospects are not good at this point. senator harkin said after this work period that it will bump it into another month. if there do not seem to be any movement from the main sticking point, this $10.10 raise on democrats.- rate on they do not seem interested in compromise. >> there has been some democratic senators, mark warner

said we should do a minimum wage but there's some debate about timing and the amount. it sounds like some democrats would be open to a little bit of a lower rate. >> i think that is true. the thing i would add to what mr. harkin was saying is that i do not see a lot of room for republicans to be copper might think on the other side. senator harkin told me his $10.10 limit in january and i called around trying to find people who would talk to me about what they wanted. none of them had any idea about some sort of coming together. to some extent, it makes sense to hear him using that threshold. it is not clear to me even if they were to get the democrats together that there would be anybody in the republican party who would even go close to it. >> is this now and election year issue for the democrats?

that is a good question. it is an election year. it is important for the parties put outwhat they would as their priorities, even if they cannot get support. i think maybe the jury is out on that. the american people get frustrated seeing congress not doing anything. that was what his approach was. we have seen democrats want to use this as an issue. election issue is the health care law. what did you hear from the chairman? >> he loves obamacare. he was able to go out and how it good things. tout itseresting to -- good things. .t is interesting to hear that republicans think they can win based on this.

i wanted to ask him whether or not the republicans were hurting themselves by just focusing purity answered it right away, absolutely. -- by just focusing on it. he answered right away, absolutely. it is nice to see somebody who t it together talk about how he likes it. >> do they have the numbers to go out there for obama care? democrats taken a mixture road. some are leaning into it more than others. the senator is confident the numbers will continue to increase. he was willing to acknowledge shortcomings oath in having created -- oath and having h inted the law -- bot

having created the law and the rollout. he was honest about the problems he saw in the rollout. also retiring after a very long career in the senate, which he acknowledged. it may be easier for him to say it" than those in more conservative states. of thes nice to see one chief sponsors of the bill come out and say this is a wonderful thing and i am glad to see all of the good news that come from it. at the same time, he is so far away from some conservative democrats who are trying to win out the voters. it may make more sense to have somebody talk about the good things in obamacare like the preventative care that he was referencing. maybe they do not have to talk about how it is the best thing

that happened in the last 10 years. >> we will see how it shapes up. u both.o i appreciate it. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> i do not think that is any of your business. reaganink the glamour of had less to do with his but itod roots per se did have something to do with the skills and grace he acquired as an actor. he always hit his mark. made a fielding the questions look effortless which is another as