>> president obama has been an overseas trip to europe and saudi arabia. he will be back in the u.s. today. this week's radio address was delivered by vice president joe biden. he urged congress to raise the minimum wage. congresswoman jackie walorski from indiana gave the republican address spirit she called on the president to support the veterans accountability legislation. >> ladies and gentlemen, i'm joe biden. i'm filling in for president obama, who is abroad. i want to talk to you today about the minimum wage and the overwhelming need to raise the minimum wage. there's no reason in the world why an american working 40 hours a week has to live in poverty. but right now a worker earning the federal minimum wage makes about $14,500 a year. and you all know that's incredibly hard for an individual to live on, let alone raise a family on.

but if we raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, that same worker will be making $20,200 a year -- and with existing tax credits would earn enough to bring that family or a family of four out of poverty. but there's a lot of good reasons why raising the minimum wage makes sense. not only would it put more hard-earned money into the pockets of 28 million americans, moving millions of them out of poverty, it's also good for business. and let me tell you why. there's clear data that shows fair wages generate loyalty of workers to their employers, which has the benefit of increasing productivity and leading to less turn over. it's really good for the economy as a whole because raising the minimum wage would generate an additional $19 billion in additional income for people who need it the most. the big difference between giving a raise in the minimum wage instead of a tax break to

the very wealthy is the minimum wage worker will go out and spend every penny of it because they're living on the edge. they'll spend it in the local economy. they need it to pay their electric bill, put gas in their automobile, to buy fundamental necessities. and this generates economic growth in their communities. and i'm not the only one who recognizes these benefits. companies big and small recognize it as well. i was recently in atlanta, georgia, and met the owner of a small advertising company, a guy named darien. he independently raised the wages of his workers to $10.10 an hour. but large companies, as well, costco and the gap -- they're choosing to pay their employees higher starting wages. a growing list of governors are also raising wages in their states the minimum wage. they join the president who raised the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors like the folks serving our troops meals on our bases. they're all doing this for a

simple reason. raising the minimum wage will help hardworking people rise out of poverty. it's good for business. it's helpful to the overall economy. and there's one more important benefit. right now women make up more than half of the workers who would benefit from increasing the minimum wage. folks, a low minimum wage is one of the reasons why women in america make only 77 cents on a dollar that every man makes. but by raising the minimum wage, we can close that gap by 5%. and it matters. it matters to a lot of hardworking families, particularly moms raising families on the minimum wage. and one more thing, folks -- it's what the american people want to do. three out of four americans support raising the minimum wage. they know this is the right and fair thing to do, and the good thing to do for the economy. so it's time for congress to get behind the minimum wage bill offered by tom harkin of iowa and congressman george miller of

california -- the proposal that would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. so ask your representatives who oppose raising the federal minimum wage -- why do they oppose it? how can we look at the men and women providing basic services to us all, like cleaning our offices, caring for our children, serving in our restaurants and so many other areas -- how can we say they don't deserve enough pay to take them out of poverty? the president and i think they deserve it. and we think a lot of you do too. so, folks, it's time to act. it's time to give america a raise. thanks for listening and have a great weekend. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. >> good morning, i am jackie walorski. i support the community act as a member of the veterans affairs

committee and a presumptive voter. we need a common sense bill. without this real-world accountability, the v.a. has become the epitome of the bureaucracy. i hear every day from veterans who are forced to wait months on end for their disability claim process. unfortunately this isn't typical. typical.s average wait times are 330 days around the country. the backlog has been associated with thousands of patients waiting for their paperwork to clear. on top of that they are grieving loved ones and have to wait on the compensation they're owed. it these men and women who fought for our country. they should not have to fight

for their own benefits. we trace much of this problem back to the sheer lack of accountability. at least three preventable deaths have occurred. two officials were to retire early and three were recommended while the rest face unspecified actions. that is bad enough. in many cases we have found not only have managers received no discipline, they have gotten bonuses as well. these pats on the back and slaps on the wrist only protect bureaucrats, enabling their improper behavior and putting our veterans at risk. that is where the v.a. management accountability act comes in. this bill would give the v.a.the authority it needs to fix things. it will bring in people who will clean it up. otherwise all the -- in the world will not help. this is a big step in the right direction. as we speak this bill is under

consideration by our committee. it continues to pick up bipartisan support. already we have seen the backing of house speaker john boehner and key organizations. today we are reaching out to the president and to all americans. each of us has a stake in solving this problem. all the things we say about owing our veterans a debt of gratitude, all the promises we make to take care of them, to support them, the v.a. exists to turn those words into actions. america is a grateful nation. we cannot allow anyone or anything to get in the way of that. the federal backlog should never have appeared in the same sentence. let's make that our mission and work. god bless those that serve and god bless the united states of america.

>> tomorrow on c-span, a republican study committee chair is our guest on "newsmakers." he will talk about the efforts to promote conservative ideas in congress ahead of the 2014 elections. you can watch the interview at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern. on the next "washington journal," fred kempe reviews president obama's trip abroad. tony carrk discusses monday's deadline to sign up for insurance under the affordable care act. tea party express cofounder russo talks about the current state of the tea party. and former un ambassador discusses the u.n.'s role with russia. as always, we would take her calls and you can join the conversation via facebook and twitter.

" washington journal," live at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. c-span, created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you today as a public service by your television provider. >> david cohen is the executive vice president of the comcast corporation. he is our guest this week on "the communicators." when it comes to the comcast -time warner cable proposed merger, what's the biggest hurdle that you see facing comcast? >guest: what a surprise we shoud start with that question. obviously, we are going to have a serious governmental review of the transaction. but i'll be honest with you, i think the transaction is a lot less scary, a lot