>> gretchen: all right. >> steve: spam.com for all the recipes. they're dishes. we'll see you back here manana. >> clayton: spam. bill: good morning, everybody. a fox news alert on a new challenge to the president's health care law the house will vote on a bill to repeal the health care overhaul. debate begins this morning. if yesterday is any guide there will be fireworks on the floor of the house in moments. good morning, everybody, i'm bill hemmer. welcome to "america's newsroom". martha: i'm martha maccallum, good morning, everybody. the republicans say the president's law is empty promise. they see it as the largest tax increase in american history. some top democrats believe that is not true. hear is the back and forth. >> 97% of american families will not pay one dime of tax increases under this law. >> president obama famously said and i quote, if you like your health care plan

you will be able to keep your health care plan period, end quote. the congressional budget office released a fact that 20 million people are expected to lose their health insurance coverage if this law stands. bill: now the lines are being drawn yet again. new details on democrats possibly joining republicans in this fight. chief congressional correspondent, mike emanuel live on the hill. early for us. mike, good morning to you. how many votes will come from democrats? >> reporter: we're counting heads at this point, bill. we confirmed three for sure so far. we expect that number will likely grow. look at names we confirmed at this point. dan boren, democrat from oklahoma. bill: larry kissell from north carolina and mike mcintire from north carolina. this vote will have very real political impact for democrats in districts where this law is unpopular if they vote against repeal. this may be trouble for them in november. to be fair, it may also have an impact on republicans in swing districts where voters

may not crazy about this repeal effort. meanwhile here is a leading republican on the effort to go forward with repeal. >> if the facts that we now know today about this law were available when this law was being debated, there is no way this would have become law! this is a effectively a government takeover of 17% of our economy. >> reporter: a lot of republicans are saying this is not a symbolic vote. they're moving forward doing the will of the american people. bill: so we await this, the vote here, mike. on the other side what are democrats saying against this vote today? >> reporter: we heard a lot of them saying this is a waste of time. this is the 31st effort to either repeal or defund the president's health care law. they also say it is a waste of time because president obama has threatened to veto this if this were to go anywhere. we heard from leading

democrats emphasizing popular portions of this law and fighting against repeal. >> this is about politics, not policy and very frankly if it passed, if it became law, literally millions and millions of americans would lose benefits they already have. young people would be kicked off their family's insurance policy. preexisting conditions would now be used by the insurance company to keep children from getting health care insurance. >> reporter: we expect some passionate arguments for and against repeal on the floor of the hoist and a vote to repeal sometime this afternoon. bill: here we go again. mike emanuel, live on the hill leading our coverage there. mike, talk to you a bit later. here is martha with more on this. martha: republican house leadership announced plans to repeal the vote on june 28th. that is the same day the supreme court upheld the health care overhaul. this marks the second attempt at third repeal and

third 30 attempt to repeal this since august of 2011. it all comes before the next provision of the health care law kicks in. that happens on september 23rd. health insurers will be required to tell the government all the benefits they offer their applicants and enrollees. a full vote --. bill: we'll take in a lot of reaction to this all morning as we await a health care repeal vote, a top republican leader, peter ross couple joins us next hour. he was on the floor during the debate. more of those fireworks coming up on momentarily here in "america's newsroom". martha: president obama set to meet with lawmakers about his push to keep the tax rate in place for people making $250,000 or less. big, big issue on the campaign trail with all this. the president's plan would raise taxes on income above $250,000. essentially saying that people with high salaries don't need all the tax breaks that they have had for the past decade. watch.

>> to give me another tax break or to give warren buffett another tax break or to give mitt romney another tax break, that would, that would cost about a trillion dollars, and we can't afford it. not at a time we're trying to bring down our deficit. not at a time when we're trying to reduce our debt? martha: some say there is whole lot of ground and warren buffett and many people that make $250,000 a year. governor romney fired back against all of that, while he was on the campaign trail in colorado saying that the last thing we need to do he believes is to raise taxes during this once again, rough spot in the economy. >> so at the very time the american people are seeing fewer jobs created than we need, the president announces he will make it harder for jobs to be created. i just don't think this president understands how our economy works. liberals have an entirely different view of what makes america the economic powerhouse it is. martha: all right. those two sound bites give

you the definition of this race. bush-era tax rates are scheduled to expire at the end of the year unless congress votes to extend them the that has been called the fiscal cliff that is coming, right? bill: governor mitt romney getting set to address the naacp in hour's time in fact. he annual convention in houston, texas expected to focus on jobs and economy. a big issue in the african-american community which is coping with an unemployment rate of more than 14% nationwide. president obama skipping that convention this year. vice president joe biden will attend in his place. martha: so another city in california has just filed for bankruptcy. this time it's san bernardino. they ran out of money when they were trying to pay their bills like so many cities around this country. san bernardino, $45 million in the hole. the city of 210,000 people is among the largest in the nation ever to declare bankruptcy. it becomes california's

third city in just weeks to go broke. where is all this going to end in california? folks are not happy there. >> another city in california is going down. reorganization, whatever you say, it is bankruptcy. credit rate run down. contracts wide open. everything is open now. martha: boy, a depressing situation. charles payne of the fox business network joins me. chars, what do you make of it and how many more dominoes to fall in this game? >> one thing for sure, martha, more dominos will fall. what is interesting about san bernardino they actually made some concessions over the last few years. they cut their public workforce. they even had some cityy worker concession, salary concessions. so i think one of the underlying stories here we could probably focus on, if you wait too long to make concessions, you can still end up hitting a brick wall which is exactly what happened with san bernardino. martha: we'll be talking with the mayor of scranton

this morning. we've been covering that story over the past couple days. it is a stark reality. he is a democratic mayor of scranton who has pushed everybody's paycheck down to minimum wage, who work in the fire department, police department, and some other areas of the government. they have $5,000 left in the bank after the current payroll gets covered. >> it is so interesting because one of the sound bites i heard from the mayor yesterday of scranton, he mentioned he didn't have a money-printing machine. typically that is something you might hear from a real fiscally conservative republican, to your point, not necessarily a democrat. again this all points to the fact no matter what side of the aisle you're on, if you spend more money than you take in, ultimately there is a serious price to pay. that is message for a lot of small cities. a message for our country. sadly this news is going to continue. i want to also add one little aside, a couple days ago there were two murders in san bernardino, bringing total so far for the year to 22. last year all they had was 30. when we talk about these things, it is not just

economics. it is not just a wallet but the deterioration of a community and perhaps entire nation when these things aren't solved. martha: crime rate goes up and storefronts are empty in a lot of these towns. one last thought if you could to the pension agreements we'll talk about with the mayor. >> you're absolutely right. they were lavish to begin with. they were extraordinary. we love our firefighters and teachers but we overpaid them and overpromised. somehow a manager would return 8% a year for basis offering some of these things was outrage just to be begin with. they have to be clawed back and redone. it is a shame. they were promises but unfortunately to secure a brighter future for kids living in the cities and towns and states it must be done. martha: new normal. we're trying to make it normal, which would be good, right? from where we are. >> you're right. martha: always good to talk to you. bill: seems like so long ago, doesn't it?

new york has had a string of murders over the past two weeks. keep an eye on the story charles mentions there. we're just getting started. how do you solve washington's red ink, raise taxes or cut spending? what overwhelming number of voters say must be done in rather revealing new polls you will see here. martha: a inferno after a massive train derailment evacuate as mile wide section of a huge college town in america. the dangerous chemicals that could be burning there right now. bill: you mentioned this. a city running out of money taking drastic action. all city workers including mayor will now be paid minimum wage. that mayor on the hot seat for the decision is live here in "america's newsroom". >> i think there is fear if a guy like this can get away with it, democratic mayor in a democratic town can get away with it, somebody else will try to do it to the workers in the private sector and get away with it.

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martha: so police divers are going out again to try to pull a yacht out of the water after that horrific tragic accident on the 4th of july. three young children in that crash lost their lives on long island sound that night. investigators are hoping they can get the boat back on dry land and they will try to determine if the vessel was overcrowded and what happened. 34-foot yacht flipped over. 27 people were onboard. it sank after the fireworks display on new york's long island. the boat's skipper says it was tipped over by a large wave as a storm approached. more coming on that. bill: brand new numbers just out on how americans feel about the economy and their own future. rasmussen reports this fresh new survey. 66% of the likely voters think the government should consider thoughtful spending cuts in every federal program. 20% disagree. 14% say they're not quite sure. scott rasmussen is.

he an independent pollster and president of rasmussenreports.com. scott, good morning to you. i want to take the percent number there. >> okay. bill: 66%, is that true that is highest level of support you have seen since you asked the question in august of 2011? >> it is but it's consistent with decades of data showing that people view the federal spending as a burden for the private sector economy to bear. they're looking for ways to reduce that burden. we did a survey where we found people who wanted the government to do more to help the economy. we said what do you want the government to do? they said cut taxes, cut spending. you know this is what voters believe is the best way to improve the economy. bill: you also asked thoughtful spending cuts. thoughtful i thought was interesting choice of words, by the way, scott. i will ask you to describe that in a moment. should thoughtful spending cuts be considered in every program except the military? 42% yes.

44% say no. that is pretty teen. what does that tell you? >> what it shows voters understand we have spending problem. they have everything on the table. why should our favorite program have to be trimmed if that one doesn't have to be? we'll leave this particular entitlement program alone, some other people would say no way. people do want to make cuts. i wrote a book on it, the people's money. they're willing to make spending cuts. they're willing to change the direction of the federal budget. they want everything on the table. most federal spending goes into three areas, national security, social security and medicare. if you want to talk about federal spending you have to talk about those areas. bill: before i get to consumer confidence why did you use that word thoughtful? >> you know, sometimes there are words like harsh and draconian and we wanted to see if that would have much of an impact and it really didn't change things all that much. most americans say in general that spending cuts are good for the economy. most say they support spending cuts, rather than

tax hikes. a lot of times we use different words, just to see, what will move the needle. bill: but in this case it did not change. that is interesting too. >> didn't have much of an impact. bill: consumer confidence, this is it stunning. look at the bottom of this list, consumer confidence on the economy. 55% say it is poor wow. >> that's right. bill, you know, sometimes it is fun to talk about consumer confidence, when it is going up but right now we're in a very difficult time. since last friday's jobs report, the rasmussen consumer index fell seven points. confidence is down to barely positive the lowest levels of this year. and it is not only that 55% think it is in poor shape and hardly anybody is really excited about it. by a 2-to-1 margin, americans say, it is still getting worse, and half say their own personal finances are getting worse. bill: the other times you have done that same question, gone between 50 and 60%. you're right smack dab in the middle of that number there at 55. >> that's right.

bill: you asked will your next job be better than your current job? this is fascinating. a third say yes i think it is pretty striking given the economy today. 25% are not so sure. throw that into the mix. >> that is big difference between now and say five or six years ago. five or six years ago a lot of those not sure were saying yeah, my next job will be better. a lot of workers saw themselves as free agent. we've gone a generation without having a really difficult jobs market. people are confident when they left their job it was going to be their choice, not their boss's. now we live in a time when there's a bit of optimism but not nearly what we saw a few years ago. and one out of four workers today are still worried about losing their job, not by their choice but by their boss's choice in the near future. bill: scott, thank you for sharing your new numbers with us first. >> thank you. bill: scott rasmussen. rasmussen reports.com. martha: if that is not enough, we have new poles

that show a critical divide among americans. the one thing in your life that may strongly influence your vote. this is very interesting and what it is and how it looks to be impacting things. bill: there are shore sharks off the beach. where the latest sighting is and how one man is eating his words so to speak. >> my daughter was talking about they were seeing great whites and we should be careful. and i told her the percentage of seeing a shark and how small it was

bill: all right. 22 minutes past the hour now. jcpenney laying off 350 workers. the cuts coming at the headquarters in dallas. the stock price for that company dipping another 5% this week. 600 workers were laid off back in april. the most destructive wildfire in colorado history is now fully contained and

thank goodness. the wall dough canyon fire killed two people and destroyed some 350 homes. a new shark sighting off cape cod, massachusetts. these aerial pictures showing a shark swimming off chatham massachusetts a few days after a kayaker had a very close encounter with a probable great white in the same area? oh my. martha: yellow tag, behind my head. you see the yellow tag on the shark. bill: i see that. martha: they put a computer chip in that baby. near swimmers, not near swimmers. safe to go in. not safe to go in. very helpful information. bill: it is that time of year, especially in chatham. martha: let's talk iowa for a moment, shall we in iowa's very powerful christian conservatives were not keen on governor mitt romney when the white house race got underway. evangelicals are coming around according to some. they are not happy and

expected to vote against president obama and not necessarily for the governor according to some folks on the ground there and steve brown is on the ground there doing some work on this for us. he in des moines for us. steve, are christian conservatives or evangelicals essentially going to sit this race out? is that what you're hearing? >> reporter: no, maybe not necessarily sit it out but we're talking about levels of enthusiasm and turnout here. we talked to bob van der plots. he is noted social conservative leader here in the state of iowa. he says there is multiple reasons for christian conservatives to get to the ballot box here in iowa coming up in november. he says at the core, right now, romney is not one of them. >> the dichotomy we face our base is very excited to make obama a one-term president. but they're not all that excited about making romney president. >> reporter: now the issue here is turnout. there is looking like it is going to be turnout election not just nationally but in key battleground states like

iowa where christian conservatives could make a difference. they say they are not yet there in terms of turnout. my get a majority of the vote but not exactly enthusiastic right now. martha. martha: if you're governor romney and watching this segment, the question would be, what do these conservatives want from mitt romney? what would change their mind? >> what does every republican constituency want? they want attention. governor romney has devoted resources to recruiting social conservatives, christian conservatives back including putting mike biondo, formerly from the santorum campaign, on this particular issue. for a lot of folks it will have to be face-to-face kind of salesmanship. have a listen. >> if mitt romney wants those people's votes he will have to be the one that closes the sale. not any endorsement from any other official or any group. they're not on the ballot. mitt romney is. they won't be making decisions in the white house. mitt romney will be. >> reporter: while we suffer

the beeping of a bus literally standing right next to me i will add governor romney today is down in, down in houston giving a speech to the naacp, a group he is not expected to do particularly well with he is making outreach to african-americans, anyway. similar sorts of efforts personally by the governor have not been made to try to recruit christian conservatives back in the fold. those looking for alternatives to a mitt romney candidacy during the primary season. so there is work to be done for the romney campaign. martha: sounds like it. steve, thank you very much. time to get on the bus. bill: there you go. he weapon miss it. martha: don't go too far. bill: ed rollins will break down a lot of this stuff coming up in 20 minutes about that. there is breaking news in ohio, a massive explosion after part of a freight train derails. at least 100 homes have been evacuated because of what is on board that train. martha: the mayor of scranton, pennsylvania, is very much in the news this

week. he has a plan to help his crash-strapped city and boy, are people fired up about it. the mayor is here to tell us about his controversial plan coming up. >> scranton is the leader in northern eastern pennsylvania with economic development. we have to get through this and we will. at end of the day it is council's budget and it needs to be funded and they have to fund it. ♪ [ male announcer ] ok, so you're no marathon man. but thanks to the htc one x from at&t, with its built in beats audio,

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bill: information now from central ohio, many people have been ordered to get out of their homes after a train

derailment. it happened earlier this morning. outside of columbus, the state capitol and home to ohio state university. it triggered a fiery explosion. two people have been injured there. what was on board this train to cause such an evacuation, mike? >> the chemical components we are hearing so far are denatured alcohol and styrene. it's basically alcohol with chemicals but put in it to make it poisonness for you won't use it. it's fuel for camping stoves. styrene is a chemical component of polystyrene. if that burns and you get large doses of it it can affect your central nervous system, it can produce nausea. one of the camera men or photographers who showed up on the scene started feeling nausea

and took himself to the hospital and is be treated right now. two people ran up on the scene and they are reported injured. what we are finding with rail car accidents is people still ride the rails. anyone who would be in the wreckage would not be documented right now, bill. >> did the local emergency crews, did they know what kind of chemicals are coming through their towns on rails like these, or is it only when something happens that they are notified. >> it's only when something happens. hazardous chemicals come through on a regular basis and only the railroads are to no. the contents are posted on the sides of the cars. the only people who don't know about it are the general public and the first responders, our

hazmat teams don't know about it until they show up on the scene. bill: okay. thank you, mike. martha: the mayor of one city is taking drastic measures. scranton, pennsylvania has been on the state's distressed list for 20 years. this year the city face east $16.8 million shortfall. the mayor made the very unpopular move of cutting the may of workers to minimum wage to $7.25 an our. he's got unions for both the police and the firefighters planning to hold him in contempt of court to restore their pay. here is one union present's reaction. >> for ten years i've watched this guy walk-through court orders, walk all over our contracts, it's unfortunate that it's got to be pushed this far

but my members are suffering here, every day that goes by is another question mark for them on how they are going to meet their financial obligations and pay their mortgage. martha: joined now by the mayor of scranton, merr christopher doherty, good morning. good to have you here. >> good morning, martha. martha: what do you say to the fireman? >> we've known the troubles of this year, our council passed a budget based on borrowing. they have been unwilling to funneled the borrowing. we have a short full. we've made all the employees aware of what may happen as we continue to be unwilling to fund the budget which they have done. our employees are all great, all of them do an outstanding job and it's unfortunate city council has passed a budget based on borrowing and is unable

to fund it. when you pass a budget they have a say in the terms and conditions, they've been unwilling to meet the conditions. we are going to work with them to get through this and take care of the employees and also take care of the citizens of our cities and protect their number one asset, which is their home. martha: everybody new this was a possibility and could have been coming, you say. you wanted to raise property taxes by 79% and institute a charge $22 for garbage pick up. why increase property taxes to such a great exspent? 79% is a lot? two things, first of all, the budget for last year, for 2012 it would have been increased, the taxes by $130 and that would have solved the problems we had today. because council chose to barrow and ignore my budget now they are forced to go to the banks. the banks have said we want to know how you're going to pay us

back. i've explained to them here is what you have to do now to project your costs over the next several years to pay them back. it's very difficult, a very difficult situation. i've been reelected three times. you have to be honest with the people and this is what the services cost. we have been burdened with a lot of legacy costs in scranton. we have to manage the city and the employees and make it work. martha: in so many cities across america the issue is the legacy costs, the pensions. we heard governor chris teeth othechristie say look, i don't want the government to send me any more money for federal worker. i have enough trouble paying the pension promises that has been made to all of the workers. is there if i discussion of reworking pensions going forward or restructuring our city's financial situation so it doesn't happen again and you can get out of the whole?

>> yeah there are discussions going on. i think you touched on it, martha, for instance our healthcare bill is $15 million. the majority of that bill goes to retirees, those were agreements that were made before i became the mayor, and we need to address aupbdz thos address and understand those costs. the city like sca scranton, it's very burdensome. we were able to bring backfire man who were laid o. co laid off. i could have hired additional fireman, i said no, i didn't want to burden the city with additional costs. i became mayor eleven years ago and we had 500 employees. today we have 400. the federal government has no money, the state has no money and for cities we are a hard government. we have to pick up the garbage. our police and fire trucks are on the streets every day. we have to plow and pave. we have to fix our parks.

people see us every day, it's different than when you have the state and federal governments where you don't really touch them with the city government, municipal government you see the services every day and they have to be out there every day and every morning. martha: some of these families, firefighters, policemen have been living on $1,600 for sue weeks. now they are down to a $600 paycheck, $300 a week. if you could tell them, here is what would solve your problem and get you back to a better pay scale, what would it be? >> two things, first of all we guarantee that they will be made hole and we will may them. but we are working at it now so that the next paycheck, hopefully that will be a full paycheck for them. your tax revenue is coming out evenly and we are concentrating and that to make that happen. no one wants to do this. we are left with this deficit. as a result not only when you run a city government are you

paying salaries, i have to have gas in the police cars, diesel in the fire trucks. when you have a shortfall you're trying to balance it out. our employees do a great job. we know we have to pay them and as a mayor i'm trying to make it work so i can provide all the services to the people of our city and make sure that we take care of our employees. martha: you've got a tough job in a place that has had some long-term financial woes. we will watch your situation and see how it all works out. mayor, thank you for being with us today. good to meet you. >> thank you, martha. martha: democratic meijer from scranton, pennsylvania. he's also making minimum wage as part of this -- bill: 7.25 an hour. you think about the hole that this town has dug itself and the pension obligations on top of that and you wonder how do you climb out of that? how many years does it take? martha: one thing he said they

are about 16 million in the hole and they have $15 million in healthcare expenses and he said most of that is going toward retirees in the city of scranton. these are the struggles that so many cities across america are facing. bill: this is a middle size town. wait until you get into detroit, michigan, the issues go on and on. interesting interview. the big split among voters that could decide the race for the white house. a brand-new poll shows a fascinating divide. ed rollins, what that could mean for these two men this november. martha: this was not a landing these folks expected. it was a harrowing ordeal when a hot air balloon crashes to the ground. be right back. >> i held on tight and kept bouncing. it was in slow motion. just kind of drunk, and then the

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martha: we've got new video of a trip to remember when tourists crash land in a hot air balloon. take a look at this. this is in arizona, the pilot said that he got hit by unexpectantly high winds up to 30 miles an hour, that forced him to make an emergency landing in a cotton field. that's what it looks like when that goes down. he managed to keep his sense of humor. >> we knew we were coming in so we kind of bounced, then we bounced, then we dragged, then we bounced, then we dragged, and then it was green. [laughter] martha: had a little champagne on that balloon ride. everybody seems relaxed about the while thing. all five people walked away with no injuries. they bounced, just like they said. bill: what is in that basket? martha: everything is just dandy. bill: pass it around. a new poll shows a sharp political divide among americans who are married versus those who are single. 51% of married americans support governor romney over president

obama, but you take off that ring and it flips. 54% of unmarried voters go for the president. so what's that dynamic means for the race? ed roll listen fox news contributor national director for the reagan team, and has had major roles in nine other presidential campaigns. good morning to you. how are you. >> i'm fine. bill: married versus single what does it tell you. >> single woman. a lot of times it's the economy. a lot of young women who don't have as good of jobs, a lot of young women or older women who are widowed or divorced have more difficulty with the economy. romney needs to address it. it will close, it has always closed. bill: you think it will. you would expect this to change, then. >> not to the point where romney will be ahead on single woman but the gap will close. the tkpwrap has traditionally been there. it closed up. people who are married basically

have more economic stability and traditionally vote republican. bill: does president obama care about you? 56% say yes. why does he score so well in this category? >> he's got a big personality, people still like him even though they differ with his economic policies. to be perfectly honest there is something cool about him. i mean we may not like his policies, we may not particularly like him as partisans, at the end of the day a lot of people do and people think what he understands what is going on in their lives. bill: flip it around, does governor romney care about you, only 42% say yes, according to this number, what does that tell you? >> he hasn't connected yet. i think he will. he has three and a half months to go here. he lives a great life, he has a beautiful wife, wonderful kids, a millionaire, he has financeee friends, people want to understand, does he understand what is going on in my life?

once he connects and talks about the economic situations and how he's going to create jobs and get it forward again it will close-up. bill: if you were running his campaign how would you change that? >> first of all i'd be talking about my issue. not am i against healthcare here is how i'm going to fix it, i'm going to get the small businesses back to work creating jobs. the second part of that is not there yet. bill: it's mid-july. do you change that now or does the convention pay a significant role in that? >> i would start testing. the timeframe he has, he's going to european israel in two and a half weeks. you have the olympics which is a down period. really the next week, ten days i would start testing some of these messages. i'd get the vice presidental choice out of the way as quickly as i could. bill: quickly? >> quickly. bill: a couple days, a week, a month. >> certainly before he goes to europe i'd pick a vice

president. bill: really, traditionally that comes mid to late august. >> the reason it does is you always try to create a buzz in convention. the conventions are so late this time you're not going to create a buzz. this is a very close race, anything you can to get the momentum moving toward, the policy set, you're way ahead of the game. bill:ed thanks. we'll talk to you next week. don't no anywhere. i won't. martha: in the meantime first lady michelle obama is hitting the campaign trail sharing her life story and making her pitch to middle class voters, what this role means for the president and his re-election strategy. we'll talk about that, a great panel coming up. bill: also, a town rethinking a new plan limiting the number of flags on veterans graves. what prompted the change of heart, and what it means to the people who served our country and their families. >> when a veteran tells you they

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some are asking how much help is a can of soda or a twinkie? current rules allow people to buy anything from steaks to caviar from ice cream to candy with food stamps. nutrition advocates want tough new restrictions that would limit purchases to healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. the idea to promote better nutrition and diabetes and heart disease. >> they have nutritional recommendations. snap is uply mental nutrition assistance program so it would make sense to put nutrition in it. >> kucinich is the wife of democratic congressman dennis kucinich. martha: there is really no

way to determine how the money is being spent once people get it for food stamps right? >> reporter: right. it is not clear at all because the department of agriculture is not releasing any data who is buying what with their food stamps. the agency tells fox news usda is prohibited by law from releasing any data on the amount of snap benefits spent at individual stores and snap of course is food stamps. at least one advocate for food stamp reform says usda should release that information. >> i absolutely think they should because this is a smanl major, huge, federal program. we need to know how it is working and whether people are getting the benefits the american people want them to get. >> reporter: food stamp program makes up 80% of the farm bill that is being debated on capitol hill. it could come up for a vote later this year, martha. martha: steve, thanks very much. steve centanni in d.c.. bill: five minutes before the hour. you heard from mitch

mcconnell from the floor of the senate. president obama is set to meet with top democrats on the hill over his plan to raise taxes on people that make over $250,000. the clear-cut battle lines are being drawn. get a live report on that as it is happening in washington. martha: boy, have you heard about this? a huge scare in the friendly skies. such severe turbulence on this flight, that people were literally flaying around the cabin on a flight returning from paradise. >> i thought we were going to die, that we were going to die. that we were going to die. it was scary. too much. oh, you're good! hey, did you know that honey nut cheerios is... oh you too! ooh, hey america's favorite cereais... honey nut cheerios ok then off to iceland!

martha: well high level meeting at the white house today will take place. there is orrin hatch speaking live on the floor of the senate right now. we just spoke to him

yesterday. he has got his own plan for all of this. the president though will sit down with democratic leaders from the house and the senate at the white house. they will discuss among other things in the economy his controversial plan to raise taxes on the upper end of the income spectrum in america. brand new hour starts now of "america's newsroom." good to have you with us today. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. so much for a slow summer. mid-july and things are popping. the president trying to circle the wagons ahead of a tough battle with republicans on this. listen. >> this is the slowest economic recovery literally since world war ii and we have 23 million americans who are either jobless or underemployed in this economy. why would anybody in their right minds want to raise taxes on small businesses in this economy? martha: that is the heart of the debate right there. doug mckelway joins us right now. he is at the white house as they await this meeting that

will get underway. doug, is it a tax on wealthy or tax on job creators as so many are saying right now? >> reporter: that is the question of the day. obviously depends which candidate you talk to, martha. speaking yesterday in the important swing state of colorado with its unemployment rate of over 9%, governor romney called the president's plan for ending the bush-era tax cuts on families earning over $250,000, and individuals earning over $200,000, a tragedy because many small business owners file their taxes as individuals. romney calls the president's plan a real kick in the gut for a nation that is reeling from high unemployment. here is governor romney. >> for others, for job creators and small businesses he announced a massive tax increase. [booing] so at the very time the american people are seeing fewer jobs created than we need, the president announces he is going to make it harder for jobs to be created. i just don't think this president understands how our economy works.

>> reporter: speaking in the important swing state of iowa, the state that he won in the caucuses four four years ago and propelled him into the white house the president did not call it a tax on job creators. he called it a tax on the wealthy. >> yesterday i called on congress to stop any tax hikes for the 98% of americans who are just like the mcglocklins. just like you. [applause] because if congress doesn't acts act then that tax hike could cost up to $2200 for a family of four. >> reporter: martha, as you said the president will be meeting after 2:00 with leading congressional democrats including senator harry reid, nancy pelosi, chris van hollen to discuss the strategy for repealing

bush tax cuts for wealthy or job creators descend spend of depending on your perspective. martha: how hard it is on small businesses apparently they have new proposals for those folks as well at that, right? >> reporter: some new legislative, excuse me, executive branch initiatives. they're coming under immediate fire from republicans the obama administration announcing five initiatives for small business. just a few of them here. would accelerate payments to small business subcontractors for the federal government. another would increase access to capital through the small business administration, small loan advantage. one which align market tax credits to the needs of small firms. to that boehner spokesman brendan buck said this, this is no solace for small businesses facing a huge tax increase next year under the president's plan. we heard no response to this initiative from the romney camp. we'll be watching for that, martha. martha: doug, thank you very much. >> reporter: sure thing. bill: a bit of context right now. a tax hike on income above

$250,000 would generate about $85 billion in extra revenue a year for washington. well the national debt is approaching 16 trillion. in the last nine months alone a trillion dollars has been added to our national debt. martha: so the tax hike could have an impact on small business owners to be sure. 3.5% of americans report small business income, may not seem like a huge amount but that group of filers, you heard some of the naysayers it is such a small impact on number of people, they account for more than half of the nation's $1.3 trillion in small business income, who would be impacted by this. house chief deputy whip peter ross couple joins us live for more on that proposal's economic impact coming up at the bottom of the hour. stick around for that. bill: we have some incredible video of a severe storm in the state of arizona. mother nature lighting up the night here. a severe thunderstorm fueled by trip till digit heat in

the southwest. lightning bolts streaking across the sky. look at that. buckets of rain in arizona. today an excessive heat warning is in effect. they got the rain yesterday and storms. now they're getting the hot stuff. relief may be heading into the region but in the form of a monsoon? martha: a series of devastating storms pummeling parts of florida. some of the worst damage last night in tampa where powerful winds and heavy rains sent trees crashing into homes. some people swearing that they saw a tornado pass through. the winds even whipping of roof off one man's house. >> the winds got really high. and the trees were blowing a little bit sideways. all of a sudden the roof started to lift across the street. oh, my god, it is coming completely off. cars everywhere. poo emwere hiding underneath my awning trying to get underneath the storm. martha: they said warnings of live electrical wires. something always after storms.

bill: nation's capitol, intense downpours tricking flash flooding in washington. they're still recovering from the deadly june storm that left thousands without power and hot, hot weather there. knee-high deepwater stranding drives in their cars and causing sewers to overflow. a dozen row houses in the city are flooded. 3,000 homes and businesses lost electricity last night. martha: boy, this is an awful story. the parents of a new york teenager who disappeared in the waters off hawaii are now blaming a tour group that he was part of for their son's disappearance. 15-year-old tyler madoff. here is a picture of this young man. he was kayaking with five students. they were on one much these sum are organized student tours when they were suddenly knocked over by a huge tidal wave. the other teenagers were immediately rescued but despite five days of nonstop searching for tyler he was never found. >> my wife and i would like to thank all of the good

people here on the big island who have helped us during this time of sadness. martha: heart-breaking. tyler's disappearance has been ruled a fatality. it turns out that the tour company did not have a permit to be in that tide pool area where that accident happened. bill: there are new developments now as syria is on the brink of an all-out civil war. the latest amateur video shown right here reportedly showing another round of attacks from government forces. [speaking in native tongue] bill: on that battle continues. the united nations security council meeting only minutes from now to review the peacekeeping mission. is there hope there? david lee miller is live at the u.n. here in new york. what details are we expected to hear about today's meeting, david lee? >> reporter: well, bill we

expected the security council is going to hear from its special envoy kofi annan. he met on monday with bashar assad to discuss a new peace initiative. some of the details have leaked out. one of which is this new peace proposal would apparently focus on one hotbed of violence and then if successful it would expand. we also expect that kofi annan will suggest iran have some type of a role in brokering some peace deal in syria much. on tuesday he met with iran's foreign minister. after that meeting he spoke briefly with reporters. listen. >> if we do not make a real effort to resolve this issue peacefully and if it were to get out of hand and spread to the region, it can lead to consequences that none of us could man. >> reporter: by the way, bill, kofi annan is not going to be here in person for that briefing. it will be a video link is in geneva. bill? bill: what is the reaction now to his comments in tehran this week about

having iranians involved in these talks, david lee? >> reporter: from the u.s. perspective this is clearly a bad idea. the u.s. unambiguous, condemning this idea. white house spokesman saying, and i quote, i don't think anybody with a straight face could argue that iran has had a positive impact in syria. iran's leaders have historically aligned themselves with the assad regime. iran claims that the syrian opposition is essentially controlled by outside terrorist forces. one analyst says, iran will do as much as possible to protect the assad regime from falling. listen. >> kofi annan is chasing a dream. i don't believe that iran is inclined at all to help in this situation. syria is a significant ally of iran and iran has no interest in feeding it to the dogs. >> reporter: another consequence of annan's diplomacy he may be giving some additional legitimacy to the iranian government, a government now under great

pressure because of its nuclear program. bill? bill: watch how this thing turns or does not. david lee miller, live in new york at the u.n.. martha: want to take you live to the floor of the senate. moments ago we heard from orrin hatch who was talking about the bush tax cuts amendment. pretty fiery stuff. here is what he had to say. >> president obama thinks that his, that the ticket to his re-election runs through tax hike valley. he is going to succeed where walter mondale failed. president obama's signature economic policy is a promise to raise taxes on job creators when we are facing the 40th straight month of unemployment in excess of 8%. martha: there you have it. orrin hatch in some heated discussion that will continue over the course of the next several days to be sure at least. bill: certainly will. they're drawing the lines yet again seems like a battle we fought and we're going to fight it again. martha: joining democrats, some of whom it should be a million dollars the cuttoff.

we'll see if that is open negotiation over the course of those meetings. we'll watch. bill: meantime she could be president obama's secret weapon in 2012. why the first lady, michelle obama, is being called the president's messenger to the middle class. will the strategy work? we'll check in on that. martha: hours away from a debate on capitol hill to repeal the president's health care law. that is big thing going on here today. one of the top republicans in the house, we've deputy whip peter ross couple joins us live with that story coming up. bill: a terrifying experience for these passengers. wait until you hear their story. what happened in midair that sent several of them to the hospital. >> i never felt it something like that in the past. basically, with with the noise and the bumps you just think that it is going down. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert

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bill: it was only 15 seconds but it was a moment of terror for passengers on

board an american airlines plane. severe turbulence sent people flying own board. they were on their way from aruba to miami. about a half hour from landing in southern florida when it hit rough air. the shaking on board was so bad, two flight attendants were in the hospital and earningses say they thought the plane was going down. have a listen. >> i was in the bathroom, so when i closed the door, everybody started jumping around and i hit myself in the knees. people were going crazy and i ran to my seat. >> everybody is screaming. everybody is screaming. people are jumping down, up and down. everybody is freaking out. that is my first experience. i don't want to have it anymore. i started to cry. a lot of people were crying. a woman keep crying. but everything is fine now. bill: after you have experiences like that a lot of folks don't go back on a

plane for a long time. we heard from this gentleman last hour, he was in tears as he was recounting the fact he didn't think he was going to make it. three passengers were treated at the airport for minor injuries in addition to the flight attendants. martha: i don't like turbulence. i try to stay calm. i know it is part of flying but that turbulence sounds like it was something really, really extraordinary. we're so glad they're okay. back to politics now, folks. first lady michelle obama heads down to florida's battleground in an effort to connect to key middle class voters. here is mrs. obama discussing her family's blue-collar up brinkings at a campaign event last week. >> growing up, let me tell you what i saw. i saw how my parents saved and sacrificed. you know how they poured everything they had into me and my brother. education was everything in my family. everything, it was our

ticket to the middle class. it was our pathway to the american dream! [applause] martha: so florida a swing state of course crucial in 2012. 29 electoral votes are at stake in the state of florida. let's talk about all this. is this a good strategy for the president? we have alan colmes, from the alan colmes radio show and tucker carlson. from daily caller. tucker not surprising. michelle obama told her story before and connecting with middle class voters is key of course. >> that is a good story. if the white house thinks someone went to princeton and harvard and lives in the white house is the key ambassador to the middle class, good luck with that. she make as good surrogate like any president's wife she can say whatever she wants and can't attack her back because that is considered out of bounds. she is not the first to fill that role. but it is pretty effective.

she is immune from criticism. martha: alan, i'm guessing what you're going to say is that, you know, she came from humble roots. there is no disputing that. that is exactly what her story is. she is saying i came from humble roots and yet my parents put everything into our family to make sure we could live the dream and go to princeton and go to harvard. >> i don't know tucker you meant to say can't go to the harvard and live in the white house relate to the middle class. once you're in the white house you're suddenly cut off from these people. the issue is whether or not, not just your background and your life narrative which is part of a story of a campaign, what do you do? what are your policies? are you focused on what's going to help middle and lower income americans. you want to eradicate poverty? you want to, rising tide raise all boats or is that your view or say things i'm not worried about the middle class. we have programs for those people. so i think that is really the issue in this campaign. martha: the one thing i find really interesting maybe sort of missing from this campaign and that is the question of sort of, you

know, where we go from here? the future of america. the mission of america. that we've been here before. that we can come back, folks. that we can pull it together. we can be better than this. not sort of that the middle class is just, we all want to put our arms around each other and we understand how we feel and how terrible everything is. tuck can i? tucker. >> for once i think i agree with alan, it is ideas that matter and those are issues upon which the campaign should be run. that is not what is happening of course. partly because the middle class is in trouble. the black unemployment rate is over 14% as you know. there is not a good story to tell. but beyond that, the key theme of the obama campaign, seems to be, and i think michelle's obama appearance plays into this. mitt romney is bad guy. can't relate to you. he rich and out of touch and insensitive and he doesn't like you. if i were to boil down the campaign to single phrase, mitt romney doesn't like you. if you're black voter,

hispanic voter, lower middle class voter. i have it is all personal. that is shallow platts form to run a campaign. >> i think there is more. i think it is worse than i don't like you. i doesn't care about you. i certainly don't feel your pain. that is only part of the campaign. let's not --. martha: are you serious, alan? you think mitt romney doesn't care about people? really? >> i don't think he cares or thinks much about poor people. certainly his --. martha: how would you know that? >> he has a tin ear and tin tongue when --. martha: has too much money. couldn't possibly? >> not how much money you have. i only made $374,000 in speeches. i don't really care that much about the poor. we have programs for them. here's, make you $10,000 bet during a debate. i mean it is a narrative. it is a series of things shows he just is not, doesn't feel your pain. martha: talk about that for a moment, tucker. alan does make a good point in this way i think. and that is that message, that communication, that

connection and ed rollins was here a little while ago. >> right. martha: i think most people who meet governor romney, find him to be very likeable, interesting, person and i'm sure he cares, i'm sure he cares about everybody in america. i think most people who run for high office do but he may not be communicating that in a way he needs to yet. >> yeah. i mean, look romney's rich. obamas are rich for whatever that is worth. all of it is irrelevant as far as i'm concerned. this is contest that is decided on who is more charming, who is more interesting life story, romney probably loses but that is not what the campaign should be about. it is referendum on the president's first term and last four years. are you better off than you were in 2008? and the answer from virtually everyone is no. >> disagree with that. >> on that ground. that is entirely legitimate. >> we're a lot better than we were at end. bush administration. >> come on, alan. martha: i'm getting wrap in both ears. good to see you. continue the conversation later. >> like tucker's laugh, huh? a new warning about how jobs

and how long it could stay this bad, america. wait until you hear this in a moment.

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martha: verying interest development that crossed wires out of nebraska. dave heineman, the governor of nebraska, says his state can not afford the medicaid expansion. if you remember when the health care decision came down from the supreme court, one thing they said, one of the things they said that the federal government couldn't force state legislatures to expand their medicare coverage. they could suggest it, tell them they wanted to do it but they couldn't force them to do it. there is movement by some state governors to push back against that. there is effort to get all the republican governors to join that effort. dave heineman in nebraska is doing just that. we love to talk to him hear about that.

hopefully we will. governor heineman from nebraska. bill: 25 past the hour now. there is no end in sight to our jobs cries and the rest of the modern world for that matter. that is the latest finding from one of the world's leading economic organizations. it puts the average unemployment rate across its 34 member-states including the u.s. at 7.9%. that number would be a lot higher if you factor number of people who stopped looking for a job all together. cheryl casone from fox business network is here. good morning to you. member-states, canada, italy, korea, spain, u.s., all over the modern world. you find one thing especially alarming in this. what is that? >> reporter: the projection this paris-based organization came up with. this is a very extensive survey. as you mentioned 34 member countries the united states being one of them. particularly i dug into the numbers they were looking at for the united states and that's where i find this is really scary number. 7.4% unemployment by the end of 2013, a year and a half

from now, bill. now we're a little bit better off than europe, average unemployment in europe is above 11%. at least we're at 8.2% in this country. but the fact you've got this prolonged period of unhe will employment both bodes badly for the economy here in the united states. bodes badly for the global economy. the fact as you well know and reported so much bill on this topic, people are actually dropping out of the workforce. they give up. so we don't even count those individuals anymore. bill: if you look at end 2013, that is five or six-year period of economic decline. here is some stunning numbers. we're right around 8.2% but look where spain and greece are. spain sup since april, almost 25%. grease is at 22%. you say this matters because? >> reporter: because anything that happens overseas, whether it is in europe or the economic situation there or the jobless situation there, whether this is asia we're

talking about it affects u.s. economy. it affects export import activity for this country. it is going to affect us here indirectly. we're going to have problems, if the global economy continues to stay slow, american companies can't sell pencils and toothpaste overseas. general mills for instance, had them on the fbn show, they're saying this huge piece of growth internationally, that slows down for general mills if you have the jobless rates that stay higher, you know, around the world. all of it unfortunately is interconnected. this is a very extensive report. this is a very respected organization. not good. bill: 201. i don't think we can wait that long. we'll see. cheryl, thank you, catch you on fbn. >> reporter: you bet. bill: markets monday through friday noon eastern time on fox business network. check cheryl out and her gang. thanks. martha. martha: a new attempt to roll back president obama's health care law is getting underway live on capitol hill. there is the capitol on this

summer day. we may be just hours away from the house voting on that bill to repeal the measure. bill: a third city goes bust in one state in just a week's time. 20% of cities could be doing the same thing this year. we'll tell you where it is happening now when we continue with this. ♪

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martha: i think we're going to hear this story again. another california city has gone broke. this time it is san bernardino. it is the third city to file for bankruptcy in just two weeks and claudia cowan is live in our san francisco bureau. claudia, is this becoming a trend? >> reporter: as recently as last month, martha, no city in california had opted for bankruptcy since 2008. and no u.s. city with more than 200,000 people had ever chosen to go down this road but the past two weeks changed all of that in a really big way as cities have to find some way to deal with their overwhelming financial problem. first it was stockton. then last week, mammoth lakes. last night san bernardino became the latest. outside the city council meeting people were not happy. >> another city in california is going down. a reorganization, whatever you say, is bankruptcy. credit rating going down. contracts are wide open. everything is open now. >> they had no choice to

vote the way they did. the reorganization will probably help. they have no, they have no other avenue. >> i lived here all my life. and to see that, we've, we're down this road, it hurts. >> reporter: san bernardino needs to close a nearly $46 million budget gap. it is already stopped paying some vendors and may not be able to make payroll over the next three months, martha? martha: that is a tough situation but as that man says maybe the reorganization will start to help to weed things out. the main issue here the pension funding and employees costs? >> reporter: you know it is the same story. rising payrolls and pensions, rosy projections bad inevident haves. all of it coming in the midst of a recession. the move toward bankruptcy protection allows the city to invalidate their contracts with city employees and potentially renegotiate retirement plans that have caused expenses is for these once-thriving communities to skyrocket in recent years. martha, you can better struggling city across the country is watching all of this closely to see whether

bankruptcy is a tool to get out from under might also be an option for them. martha: maybe it will epthem get out from under exactly that. claudia, thanks very much. let's get everybody context on crisis happening in california. san bernardino is now the third city we said in that state to file for bankruptcy in less than a month. stockton was the first city to do so after they were unable to reach a deal with it the city's creditors. the ski town of mammoth lakes came crashing down on the 4th of july after they failed to make good on a $43 million judgement. bill: couldn't pay, huh? we're awaiting a vote on capitol hill on a bill to repeal the health care law. if it passes the house it will almost certainly die in the democratic-controlled senate but still it is the talk on the hill today. >> it means something in that there's a, republican party continues to pursue its message, not substance. this is the 31st time we voted on repealing the health care bill. it's the 31st time that it

will fail. everybody knows that the president is committed to it. he will not sign that bill. bill: that from the democratic side. republican illinois congressman peter ross couple is the chief deputy whip. sir, welcome back here to "america's newsroom.". >> good to be with you, thank you. bill: the vote will happen we believe stymied afternoon but you will speak on the floor at 1:00. what is your message? >> well the message is simple. there were false promises that were made. it was characterized not as a tax hike. the court has said without any ambiguity it is a tax hike. and the remedy is, to remove this from the, as an obstacle of job creation and let's move forward on something that's new and fresh and not be stuck in this thing that really is increasingly unpopular. that is the theme. i think ultimately the public will have the last word on this in november. bill: quite likely you're right about that. you just heard from steny hoyer more than 30 times house republicans have done this.

is it still effective or is it losing its punch, do you believe? >> no this is a point of real clarity. the public, what i'm hearing from my district in suburban chicago, they have no interest having a tax hike foisted upon them particularly when the economy is in such tough shape right now. you will see the house gop fight to repeal this bad law. it is increasingly unpopular with independent veters the president desperately needs in his re-election bid. it is increasingly unpopular with women voters who make 85% of the health care decisions in this country. we'll continue to push those type of things we remove as obstacles for job creation and move to patient-centered health care options that drive the cost down and try to deal cumulatively with preexisting conditions. this could be great. we would have a system that is rational again and where cost drivers that don't add any value to this equation

is removed. that is where the country wants us to be going instead of a lot of political drama and dogma the white house wants. bill: i tell you what the white house said in a moment but first how many democrats will vote with republicans?. >> that will be a very interesting question. some of them made commitments they were not going to support tax hikes in the past. unambiguously the united states supreme court said this is a tax hike. the president doesn't want to hear that but every thinking person pretty much agreed it is a tax hike. so now democrats on the other side will have to say, do they stick with the president or do they stick with their constituents? my hunch is you will see several of them cross over and vote with the gop. bill: we heard a number of three a bit earlier today which would not be significant as you know. i think frankly you would like more in order to buttress your argument but this is what the white house is going to say on this. it is a campaign year. you have 119 days before the vote. that if you do this, it would cost millions of

hard-working middle class families the security of affordable health coverage and care they deserve. can president obama go out to places like iowa, and ohio, and colorado and sell this message and use it against you? >> look, the president has to completely embrace the totality of the act that he passed, a massive tax hike that has done what? it was promised that it would bring costs down. it hasn't brought costs down. people were promised that they would keep the doctors that they had. they're not able to. you see more and more folks and more and more employers are moving away from offering coverage. you see employers that are saying now that we'll not have 50 or more employees because we don't want to trigger this new threshold. we're not going to hire that new person or two or three. so i don't think it is helpful politically for president obama but set that aside for a second. go right to, what is best for job growth in the united states? and i don't think with a straight face anybody can say we're better off from a

job and a competitiveness and a growth agenda point of view with this as an albatross around the neck of the economy. we should shed it and move on. bill: thank you. peter ross couple, a republican from illinois. you will talk at 1:00 thereabouts. a vote around 3:00 eastern time today. we'll be watching. thanks again. >> thank you. bill: martha? martha: there are some new concerns about security on our southern border. why one border state's lawmakers are concerned about some big changes that are happening on that boarder. bill: also one town banning american flags from the cemetery? what city leaders just decided about this controversial issue. >> i want the cemetery to look nice. i had statues as you can see and i removed them. the only thing that i won't remove is that flag. i won't. it's, he earned it.

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martha: well there's some new outrage after the obama administration announces it will shut down nine border patrol stations across four states. six of them are in texas, along our 1900 mile border with mexico. two others along the border with canada. the u.s customs & border protection agency said it will reassign the agent to high priority posts. we're joined by a former border patrol agent working for the immigration and naturalization service. good to have you with us today, sir. welcome. >> thank you, it is good to be here. >> what do you make of this? the border patrol folks say the reason they're doing this to make it more efficient. they're moving them to higher traffic areas. is that the case and are these other areas becoming more vulnerable now? >> well the reality this is something that has long been talked about over the years. i retired in 2005 and even back then it was talked about. the reality it does make sense because border patrol agents in interior stations we're talking about are

operationally ineffective. they're not allowed to do their jobs which is to patrol and enforce immigration law. they're not out there actually patrolling highways. they're responding to calls from local law enforcement. so that is not going to change. the only thing that will change is who they will be calling. it won't be border patrol. it will be i.c.e.. martha: understood. i have to cut you off. sorry about that, we have breaking news. bill: we are live in houston now. we've been waiting for governor mitt romney. mitt romney addressing the naacp in houston, texas. he just came out. let's have a listen. >> thank you this morning for your hospitality and honor to address you and one i not expected and one i value very highly. i appreciate the chance to speak first before vice president will get his turn tomorrow the i just hope the obama campaign doesn't think you're playing favorites. now you -- no audio.

bill: that is issue right there. apologies the satellite linkup from houston, texas froze for a moment. now it is back. >> you have to make your case to every single voter, we don't count anybody out. and we sure don't make a habit of presuming anyone's support. support is asked for and earned and that's why i'm here today. now with 90% of african-americans who typically vote for democrats you may wonder or some may wonder why a republican would bother to campaign in the african-american community and to address the naacp? one reason of course is that i hope to represent all americans of every race, free and sex orientation. [applause] from the poorest to the richest and everyone in between but there's another reason. i believe that if you understood who i truly am in my heart, and if it were

possible to fully communicate what i believe is in the real enduring best interest of african-american families, you would vote for me for president. now i want you to know if i did not believe that my policies and my leadership would help families of color and families of any color, more than the policies and leadership of president obama, i would not be running for president. now of course you know the opposition charges that i and people in my party are running for office to help the rich. nonsense. the rich will do just fine whether i'm elected or not. the president wants to make this campaign about blaming the rich and i want to make this a campaign about helping the middle class in america. [applause] i am running for president because i know that my policies and vision will help millions of the middle class americans of all races, will lift people from poverty and will help

prevent people from becoming poor in the first place. my campaign is about helping the people who need help. of course the president has set, won't do that my course will. when president obama called to congratulate me on becoming presumptive republican nominee, a gracious call, he said that, quote he looked forward to an important healthy debate about america's future. today i'm afraid his campaign has taken a different course. cam pages at their best voters can expect a clear choice and candidates can expect a fair hearing, only more so from a venable organization like this one. [applause] so it is that healthy debate about the course of the nation that i want to discuss with you today. now someone what told us in the 1950s or 1960s that a

black citizen would serve as the 44th president of the united states, we would have been proud and many would have been surprised. picturing that day we might have assumed that the american press densy would be the very last door of opportunity to be opened. before that came to pass every other barrier in the path to equal opportunity would surely have had to come down. of course it hasn't happened quite that way. many barriers remain. old inequities persist. in some ways the challenges are even more complicated than before and across america and even within your own ranks there are serious, honest debates about the way forward. if equal opportunity in america were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone. instead it is worse for african-americans in almost every way. the unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment, average income, median

family wealth, are all worse in the black community. in june while the overall unemployment rate remained stuck at 8.2% the unemployment rate for african-americans actually went up from 13.6% to 14.4%. americans of every background are asking when this economy will finally recover and you in particular are entitled to an answer. if equal opportunity -- [applause] if equal opportunity in america were an accomplished fact, black families could send their sons and daughters to public schools that truly offer the hope of a better life. instead for generations the african-american community has been waiting and waiting for that promise to be kept. today black children are 17% of students nationwide but they are 4% of the

students -- 42% of our students in our worst performing schools. our society sends them into mediocre schools an expects them to perform with excellence and that is simply not fair. frederick douglass observed and i quote, it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. [applause] and yet instead of preparing these children for life, too many schools set them up for failure. everyone in this room knows that we owe them better than that. the path of inequality often leads to lost opportunity. college and graduate school and first jobs should be the milestones marking the passage from childhood to adulthood but for too many disadvantaged young people these goals seem unattainable and their lives take a tragic attorney turn. many live in neighborhood

filled with violence and fears and empty of opportunity. their impatience for change is understandable. they're entitled to feel that life in america should be better than that they're told even now to wait for improvements in our economy and in our schools but it seems to me these americans have it withed long enough. [applause] the point is, that when decades of the same promises keep producing the same failures, that it is reasonable to rethink our approach and consider a new plan. i'm hopeful that together we can set a new direction in federal policy, starting where many of our problems do start, with the family. a study by the brookings institution has shown for those who graduate from high school, who get a full-time job, and wait until 21 before they marry and then have their first child the probability of becoming poor

is 2%. and if those factors are absent the probability of being poor is 76%. here at the naacp you understand the deep and lasting difference that family makes. our former executive director, dr. benjamin hooks had it exactly right, the family he said, quote, reinches ma the bulwark and the mainstay of the black community. that great truth must not be overlooked, end of quote. any policy that lifts up and honors the family is going to be good for the country and that must be our goal. as president i will promote strong families and i will defend traditional marriage. [applause] now as you may have heard from my opponent, i'm also a believer in the free enterprise system. i believe it can bring change where so many well-meaning government

programs have failed. i have never heard anyone look around an impoverished neighborhood and say, you know, there is too much free enterprise around here. toop shops, too many jobs, too many people putting money in the bank. what you hear of course, how do we bring in jobs, how do we make good, honest employers want to move in? stay in and with the shape the economy is in today, we're asking that question more and more. free enterprise, free enterprise, is still the greatest force for upward mobility, economic security, and the expansion of the middle class. we have seen in recent years what it is like to have less free enterprise. as president, i'll show the good things that can happen when we have more free enterprise, more business activity, more jobs, more opportunity, more paychecks, more savings accounts. on day one, i will begin turning this economy around with a plan for the middle class. and i don't just mean for

those who are middle class now. i also mean for those who waited so long for their chance to join the middle class. [applause] and by the way, i know what it takes to put people to work, to bring more jobs and better wages. my plan is based on 25 years of success in business. it's a job recovery plan. now it has five key steps. first, i'm going to take full advantage of our energy resources and i will approve the keystone pipeline from canada. low-cost, plentiful, coal, natural gas, oil, and renewables will bring over a million manufacturing jobs back to the united states. [applause] can second, i want to open up new markets for american goods.

we're the most productive major connie in the world. so trade means good jobs for americans. but trade has to be fair and free. so i will clamp down on cheaters like china and make sure they finally play by the rules and don't steal our jobs. [applause] and third, i'm going to reduce government spending. i hope everyone understands that high levels of debt slow down the rate of growth of the gdp of economy and that means fewer jobs are created. if our goal is jobs, we have to stop spending over a trillion dollars more than we take in every year. [applause] and so, and so to do that i am going to eliminate every nonessential expensive program i can find. that includes obamacare and i will work to reform and save -- [booing].

you know, there was a survey, there was a survey of the chamber of commerce. they carried out a survey of, of their members, about 1500 surveyed. and they asked them what effect that obamacare would have on their plans. and 3/4 of them made them less likely to hire people. i say again if our priority is jobs and that is my priority, that is something i would change and replace something that provides people something they need in health care which is lower cost, good quality, a capacity to deal with people who have preexisting conditions and i will put that in place. and i will also work to reform and save medicare and social security. people keep talking about the fact that those programs are on the pathway to insolvency and yet nothing gets done to fix them. i will fix them.

and make sure they're permanent and secure for our seniors today and seniors tomorrow. i will do that in part by means testing the benefits. meaning higher benefits for lower income people and lower benefits for higher income folks. [applause] fourth, i'm going to focus on another turing and developing the skilled workers that our economy so desperately needs today and future demands this is the human capital with which tomorrow's bright future can be built. by the way too many homes and too many schools are failing to provide our children with the skills and education that are essential for anything other than a minimum wage job. [applause] and finally and perhaps most importantly, i'll restore economic freedom. this nation's economy runs on freedom, on opportunity, on on thes, on dreamers, who

innovate and build businesses. these entrepreneurs are being crushed by high taxation, unnecessary burdensome regulation, hostile regulators, excessive health care costs and destructive labor policies. i will go to work to make america the best place in the world for innovators, for entrepreneurs and for businesses large and small. do these five things, open up energy, expand trade, cut the growth of government, focus on better educating tomorrow workers today, and restore economic freedom and jobs will come back to america and wages will rise again. we have got to do it. [applause] and i know the president will say he will do those things but he has not, he will not, and he can not and his last four years in the white house prove it. definitely.