>> and stefan cobert. replacing letterman? >> late night talk is not what it used to be. and best of luck to him. and some say it is great. and o'brian said depends on which stephen cobert shoes up. >> fox news alert. we are waiting president obama's key note address in the lbj library in austin texas. making it 50 years since johnson signed the land mark legislation in law. kwh when mr. obama begins to speak we'll bring you live to theentious vent. >> a fox news alert. can congress haul lois lerner to jail? that is a question as the house committee is voting to hold the

face of irs scandal in contempt of congress. i am greg in for bill hemmer. >> the congress is frustrated that former irs official lois lerner refused to answer the question. we have the results of the vote. n21- 12 in the house oversight committee and goes to the full house to determine whether lois lerner is in contempt of congress. they arousing every tool to compel lois lerner to testify. key law maker ares involved in the organization said the evidence against learner is overwhelming in the targeting of the conservative group scandal. learner made 17 factual assertion claiming her innocence and taking the fifth and refusing to answer questions

from law makers. a former federal prosecutor said she cannot say innocence and then refuse to testify. >> that's the not the way our system works. you have to answer the other side's questions. i think the questions are fair. the tea party is dangerous? dangerous to whom? whom, miss learner? who thinks they are dangerous? you? >> democrats are critical of the committee. if law makers wanted her to testify all they had to do is offer immunity. >> there is no connection to the white house. we are trying to hold in contempt a midlevel bureaucrat and the actions of the committee will not hold up to judicial executiny. if it was real and not fantasy,

lois lerner would have been offered immunity on day one. only way to get the case is grant immountainity. >> and house republicans are not letting this go. and they don't believe that eric holder's investigation is a source one and they are trying to keep the pressure on lois lerner and also on the attorney general. bottom line, this contempt resolution passed the house oversight and on to the full house for a vote. >> mike thank you. congressman mark meadows sits on the house over sight committee. the north carolina republican joins us now. congressman, thank you for being with us. you just held the vote and so this would be referred to eric holder in the department of justice. are you concerned that holder who himself is under criminal contempt, will pursue this matter fairly and aggressively

or are you concerned that he will shelve it to protect the irs, the democratic party and his boss, the president? >> well, the american people are concerned about that. but really we are a nation of laws, rowel of law should be what rules the day -- >> it is his discretion? >> he certainly sdshgs but as we start to high light this, what this is about is getting lois lerner to help us understand and rebuild trust in our government. because right now the american people don't trust the government. >> congressman, she will not do. that 17 times you guys have tried and she will not do it. she's invoking the fifth and clamming up here. >> that's why we held the vote to hold her in contempt and when people are starting to face

prosecutions they so the light. if you can't make them see the light, you need them to feel the heat. >> president obama said there is not a smidgeon of corruption. how could he know that when the investigation ongoing. and learner, of course, clamming up unless he is not telling the truth or he happens to think or know that the fix is in? >> he can't know that. and that's the problem. if there is an ongoing investigation to make the final analysis, and say there is not a smidgeon of corruption is not the case. we have e-mails that starts to unfold the store tore that let us know that there is more to it than that. >> he can't know the fix is in. and yet, he and eric holder are partisans and long- time

friends. he somehow knows that holder will not pursue this thing, then is the fix in? >> i don't know that the fix is in. we really have a nation of laws and so hopefully they will always rule the day. the other thing i do know that the american people's voice is not stamped out. we continue tro to hear from people back home enough is enough and time to get to the bottom of it. >> as you know. chairman darril issa a cowed the rank think member of colouding with the irs in targeting conservative groups, in particular one group and not being truthful and trying to hide it. are you suspicious that is why cumings is trying to get it to just go away. >> to make accusations to a ranking member. i will let him defend himself.

when that came up in the hearing, i yielded to him so he could defend himself. staff members are involved and they get a quicker response on the democratic side than we do on the republican. >> are you not backing issa. certainly i am backing the chairman on everything he is doing. he really wants to get to the bottom of it for the american people. it is not as much that, we want to make sure the ranking member is able to bring his case before the chairman or the american people. and again, i don't want to falsely accuse him. but it a pores that staff members were involved in this early on and having direct contact with the irs and that is troubling. >> thank you so much. >> weekly jobless numbers dropping to the lowest mark

since the great recession. with so many americans giving up looking for a job or dropping out of the work force altogether. are those numbers something that the administration with crow about? steve moore, joins us now. >> what is not to like with the amount of americans seeking unemployment benefits at a seven- year low. is there not something good about that? >> this is good news and finally, we have waited seven years for this number to come out. but my point is, we are seeing an increase in employment right now and employers starting to put more for hire signs out there. but you know, if you look at the current situation with our labor force, you have less workers working today sandra, than before the recession began. that is an unbelievable number. and don't forget.

they dropped out altogether and they don't qualify for unemployment benefits. >> maybe you are referencing the labor anticipation rate. it is at 63.2 percent. and of course, it could be touted that that number went up and more people looking for work at a six- month high. it is at the lowest it has been in over two decades. >> yeah. >> are we improving the job situation in the u.s. right now? >> yeah, it is improving and i have fingers crossed that we will see improvement. sandra, when i count the numbers and people unemployed and dropped out of the labor force and they are not looking for a job anymore and people who can't find a full- time job because of things like obama care, i count 18- 20 million americans without a job. that is a huge number. and so far people looking for a job, it is it a harsh

environment. it is getting better and economist think it will pick up as the year progresses. >> you are talking about the real unemployment rate. they say the headline and unemployment rate doesn't represent the people looking for work. >> and the underemployed and those who are discouraged from looking for a job. and many say we are at 12.7 percent if you account for all of those people. what should we be doing right now to make the unemployment situation improving slightly. what can we do to make it better? >> first of all, we are right. that number is still devastating. that means huge numbers of people. when i talk to americans, they almost laugh when the white house said 6.7 percent unemployment. they know it is worse than that. i will give you 1 or 2 word answer on what we can do to help

the labor market. repeal obama care. and suspend it so that you are not giving employers incentive not to hire workers. the 50 worker rule and holding them down to 49 workers and holding the hours worked to below 30 hours a woke. those things are hurting american's ability to find a job and take home a paycheck. >> we'll look at a survey that was taken after the administration announced folks signing up for health care. eight in ten americans, are going to be voting, based on that health care law. i am curious. we only have a now seconds. dow think health care or employment or unemployment is going to be the bigger are thing for voters as we approach the mid- term election. >> sandra, i think both of those

twochlt the election will be about obama care and whether or not americans can find jobs. those two issues are interlinked. >> steve morris, thank you. >> and one of the victims of the stabbing rampage now speaking out as we learn more about the 16-year-old suspect. >> nearly a year after the boston marathon bombings, what russia kept from the fbi. could the attack have been prevented?

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a disturbing new report on the boston marathon bombings. russian authorities with held information on one of the suspects two years before the attack. the report suggesting that had the russian government shared

what it knew then. tamerlan would have been under more scrutiny by the fbi. bill is joining us now. bill, so we are supposed to understand that russia had information on him, but they didn't share it with the united states? >> that's thorough, sandra. they came to us with information. we, the fbi did investigation during that time period. and following that time period, there was unresolved questions and we went back to russia to ask them about those questions, and information, and nothing was forth coming and now subsequent. >> i will have to jump in. president obama is speaking in austin, texas. listen. >> i want to thank first and foremost, the johnson family for

giving us this opportunity and the grasiousness we were received. we came down late because we were upstair lookings exhibits and private offices that were used by president johnson and mrs. johnson and michelle was interested in a recording in which lady bird is critiquing president johnson's performance. (laughter) >> she said, come, come, you need to listen to this and she pressed the button, and nodded her head. some things do not change. even 50 years later. to all the of congress, the warriors for justice, the elected officials, and community

leaders who are here today, i want to thank you. four days in to his sudden presidency, in the night before he would address a joint session of the congress in which he once served, lyndon johnson sat around the table with closest advisors preparing remarks to a shattered and grieving nation. he wanted to call on senators and representatives to pass a civil right's bill. the most sweeping, since reconstruction. most of his staff counselled him against it. they said it was hopeless, that it would anger powerful southern demdeps and committee chairman.

and that it risked derailing the rest of his domestic agenda. and one particularly bold aid said he did not believe a president should spend his time and power on lost causes however worthy they might be. to which it is said president johnson replied, what the hell is the president so for? (applause) what is the hell is the presidency for if not to fight for causes you believe in. today as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act, we honor men and women who made it possible. some of them are here today.

we celebrate giants like john lewis. and androu young and julianne bond. and we recall the countless unheralded americans black and white, students and scholars, preachers, and housekeepers whose names are eched not on monuments but in the hearts of their loved ones, and in the fabric of the country that they helped to change. but we also gather here, deep in the heart of the state that shaped them, to recall one giant man's remarkable efforts. to make real, the promise of our foundings. we hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are

created equal. those of us who've had the singullar privilege of the presidency know that progress can be hard and slow and frustrating and the office humbles you. you are reminded daily in the great democracy you are but a relay swimmer in the currents of history, bound by decisions of those who made before. and relint on the efforts of those who will follow to fully vindicate your vision. but the presidency also affords a unique opportunity to bend those currents and by shaping our laws and debates. and by working within the

confines of the world that it is and reimagining, the world as it should be. this was president johnson's genius, as a master of politics and legislative process, he grasped like few others the power of government to bring about change. lbj was nothing if not a realist. he was well aware that the law alone is not enough to change hearts and minds. the full century after lincoln's time, he said. until justice is blind to color and education is unaware of race and opportunity is not concerned with the color of men's skins. entious mansation will be a proclamation but not a fact. he understood that laws couldn't accomplish everything. but he also anyhow that only the

law could anchor change and set hearts and minds on a different course. and a lot of the americans needed the law's most basic protections at that time. dr. king said at the time. it may be true that the law can't make a man love me, but it can keep him from listening me and i think that is pretty important. (applause) passing laws is what lbj anyhow how to do. no one anyhow politics and no one loved legislating more than president johnson. he was charming when he needed to be.

ruthless when required. he could wear you down with logic and argument, he could horse trade, and he could flatter. you come with me on this bill, he would reportedly tell a key republican leader in my only state in the fight of civil rights bill and school children will know a bra hamelin conand edwin durstop. and he anyhow septemberors would believe things like. that. (applause) president johnson liked to power. he liked the feel of it. the weilding of it.

but that hungar was harnassed and doper understanding of the human condition. and by a sympathy for the underdog. and the down trodden and outcast. and there was a sympathy rooted in his own experience. as a young boy, growing up in the texas hill country, johnson anyhow what being poor felt like. poverty was so common he would latter say, we didn't know it had a name. the family home didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing. everybody worked hard. including the children. president johnson had known the metallic taste of hunger, and

the feel of a mother's calloused hands rubbed raw from washing and cleaning and holding the household together. his cousin a va remembered sweltering days spent on the hands and knees in the cotton fields and lyndon whispering boy, there has got to be a better way to make a living than this. there's got to be a better way. it was not until years later when he was teaching in a so- called mexican school in a tiny town in texas, that he came to understand how much worse the persistence of pain and poverty could be for other races in the jim crowe south. oftentimes, his students would show up to class hungry and

visiting their homes, he met fathers paid slave wages by the farmer ares they work for. those children were taught that the end of life is in a bebeet, or spen afternoon or cotton patch. that was not abinstructions to johnson. he anyhow that poverty and enjustice are inseparable as opportunity and justice are joined. and that was in him. from an early age. and like any of us, he was not a perfect man. his experiences in rural texas may have stretched his moral imagination, but he was

ambitious, very ambitious. a young man in a hurry to plot his own escape from poverty and to chart his own political career, and in the jim crowe south, that meant not challenging convention. during his first 20 years in congress, he opposed every several right's bill calling for a vote calling legislation a farce and a sham. he was chosen as a vice-president nom no because of his ability to deliver the southern white vote and in the beginning of the kennedy administration he shared with president kennedy a caution toward racial controversy. but marchers kept marching. four little girls were killed in a church.

bloody sunday happen. and the winds of change blew. and when the time came, when lbj stood in the oval office. and i picture him standing there and taking up the entire door frame, looking out over the south lawn, in a quiet moment and asked himself, what the true purpose of his office was for, what was the end point of his ambition, he would roach back in his o -- reach back in his own memory and remember his own experience with want and he knew he had a unique capacity, the most

powerful white politician from the south, to not merely challenge the convention, that had crushed the dreams of so many, but to ultimately dismantle for good, the structures of legal segregation. he's the only guy who could do it. and he knew there would be a cost. democratic party may have lost the south for a generation. that's what his presidency was for. that's where he meets his moment. and possess with an iron will, possessed with those skills that he honed so many years in

congress, pushed and supported by a movement of those willing to sacrifice everything for their own liberation, president johnson fought for, and argued and horse traded, and bullied, and persuaded until ultimately he signed the civil right's act into law. and he didn't stop there. and even though his advisors again told him to wait, again told him, let the dust settle, let the country absorb this momentous decision, he shook them off. the meat and the coconut as president johnson would put it, was the voting rights act.

so he fought for and passed that as well. immigration reform came shortly thereafter and then a fair housing act. and then a health care law that opopes described as socialized medicine and curtail america's freedom and freed million was seniors from the fear of illness and we know today that as medicare. (applause) what president johnson understood, was that equality required more than the absence of oppression. it required the presence of

opportunity. he would not be as eloquent as dr. can you think in describing that link age. dr. king moved in to mobilizing sanitation workers and the poor people's movement but he understood that connection because he had lived. it a decent job, decent wages, health care, those two were civil rights worth fighting for. an economy where hard work is rewarded and success is shared, that was his goal. and he knew as someone who had seen the new deal transform the landscape of his texas childhood, who had seen the difference, electricity had made, because of the tennessee valley authority. the transformation conkretly day in and out of the lives of his own family, he understood that

government had a role to play in broadening prosperity to all that would strive for it. we want to open the gates was opportunity president johnson said. and also give all of our people, black and white, the help they need to walk through those gates. now some of this sounds familiar, it is because today we remain locked in the same great debate. about equality and opportunity and the role of government and insuring each. as was true 50 years ago, there are those who dismiss the great society as a failed experiment and an encroachment on liberty

and argument that the government is true source of all that ails and you say poverty is dow to the moral failures of those who suffer from it. and those who argue, john, that nothing has changed. that racism, is so embedded in our dna, that there is no use trying politics. the game is rigged. such theories ignore history. it is true that despite flaws like the voting rights act and medicare, our society is racked with the division and poverty and race still colors our

political debates and there have been government programs that haveshort. in a time when cynicism is too often passed off as wisdom. and it is perhaps easy to conclude that there are limits to change and we are trapped by our own history and politics is a fool's errand and we are better off if we rollback big chunks of lbj's legacy and we don't put too much of our hope or invest too much of our hope in our government. i reject such thinking. not just because medicare. (applause) not because medicare and

medicaid lifted millions from suffering and the poverty rate in this nation would be worse without food stamps and head start and all programs that survive until this day, i reject such cynicism because i lived out the promise of lbj's effort. michelle has lived out the legacy of those efforts. and because my daughters have lived out the leginacy of those efforts and i and millions of my generation were in the position to take the baton he handed to us. (applause) because of the civil right's movement and because of the laws that president johnson signed, new doors of opportunity and education swung open for everybody. not all at once, but they swung

open. not just blacks and whites, but also woman, and latinos and asians and native americans and gay americans and americans with disability. they swung open for you and swung open for me. and that's why i am standing here today. because of those efforts. because of that legacy. (applause) and that means we have a debt to pay. that means we can't afford to be cynical. half a century later, the laws that lbj, passed are fundmental to our conception of ourselves and the democracy as the constitution and the bill of rights. they are foundational.

and essential piece of the american character. but we are here today because we know that we cannot be complacent. for history travels not only forwards, history can travel back wards. history can travel side ways. and secowering the gains that this country has made requires the vigilance of its citizens. our rights, our freedoms, they are not given, they must be won. they must be nurtured through struggle and discipline and persistence and faith. and one concern i have sometimes during these moments, the celebration of the signing of the civil right's act, the march

on washington, from a distance sometimes these commemorations seem inevitable. and they seem easy. all of the pain and difficulty and struggle and doubt, all of that's rubbed away. and we look at ourselves and we say things are just too different now. we couldn't possibly do what was done then. these gins what they accomplished and yet they were men and women, to. it was not easy then. it was not certain then. still, the story of america is a story of progress. however slow, however, incomplete, however harshly

challenged on each point of our journey and however flawed our leaders, however many times we have to take a quarter of a loaf, or half of a loaf, the story of america is a story of progress. and that's true because of men like president johnson. (applause) and so many ways he embodied america. with all of our gifts and all of our flaws, and all of our restlessness and all of our big dreams. this man born in to poverty, oned in a world full of racial

hatred, somehow found within himself the ability to connect his experience with the brown child in a small texas town. the white child in aplatchia and the black child, as powerful as he became, in that oval office, he understood them. he understood what it meant to be on the outside. and he believed that their plight was his plight, to. that his freedom ultimately was wrapped up in theirs. and that making their lives better was what the hell the presidency was for. (applause)

and those children were on his mind when he stroked to the podium that night in the house chamber and he called for the vote on the civil right's law. and it never occurred to me in my fondest dreams that i might have a chance to help the sons and daughters of those students that he had taught so many years ago. and help people like them all over this country, but now, i do have that chance and i will let you in on a secret. i mean to use it. and i hope you will use it with me. that was lbj's greatness.

that's why we remember him. and if there is one thing that he and this year's anniversary should teach us and one lesson that malia and sasha and young people everywhere learn from this day, is with enough effort and empathy and perseverance and courage. people who love their country can change it. in his final year, president johnson stood on this stage, racked with pain, battered by the controversies of vietnam, looking far older than his 64 years, and he delivered what would be his final public speech. we have proved the great progress is possible, he said.

we know how much still remains to be done and if our efforts continue, and if our will is strong, and if our hearts are right, and if courage remains our constant companion, then my fellow americans, i am confident that we shall overcome. (applause) we, shall overcome. we. the citizens of the united states. like dr. king, like abraham lincoln and countless citizens that drove this country forward, president johnson anyhow that ours in the end is a story of

optimism. a story of achievement and constant striving that is unique upon this earth. he knew because he had lived that story and believed that together, we can build an america that is more fair, more equal and free than the one we inherited. he believed that we make our own destiny. and in part because of him, we must believe it as well. thank you, god bless you. god bless the united states of america. (applause) 50 years ago, president johnson expended tremendous political capitol to gain the passage of the civil right's act and president obama paying tribute to that historic effort and the effort that changed the fabric of america and a great many

laws. >> a new poll could spell trouble for democrats this fall. the usa pugh research after the signum numbers for obama care. eight in ten voters said the candidates stance will be important in how they vote. simon, former campaign advisor for bill clinton and chris wilson director of the texas republican party. simon, it sounds like a tough pill for the democrats to swallow. >> look all democrats know it is a tough election. we are raising a lot of money, both chambers will be close and obama's numbers are coming up a little bit and if the economy continues to improve and perception of the a ca will get

better. democrats will take that and do our best. >> chris, eight in ten americans say it will have a factor in how they vote. it would be a major plus for the gop. >> you have to admire simons optimism. these numbers are intense as anything i have seen. and the issue of greater intensity. eight in ten americans agreeing on something. that is almost off of the charts and point to the fall, i would argue that the house will not be close at all. and democrats are hoping that the senate is close. angus king from maine predicting he will be with the republicans and over all stand point, when you look at numbers coming up against this and look at the fall, people are losing their coverage at a greater level, this spells doom for the democrats. nsimon, isn't the root of this

is about motivation. what will motivate the voter to get out there. if you think that obama care is good it is not a issue. but if it is bad, it is an intense one. if you are against obama care, you are more likely to go out and as a american and vote. >> absolutely, health care is a issue for the republican party for 2009. it was not effective in 2012, the republican nominee agreed with president obama on health care. but the point is, democrats will have to do a better job in creating intensity for their voters and the idea that the senate can flip would motivate demcrates. and the senate will be close i agree with chris on that. and i think that the president is going to have to challenge this large democrat base that voted democrat in the last lecs

to show up. i think democrats feel like they are in good shape and got money and it will be a brawl this fall no doubt about it. >> chris, the last word to democrats, only one in six democrats say that obamacare's been positive for the economy. when you look at only 17% of the party's base excited about this, it's going to be tough to create motivation amongst their base to win elections. 17% is bad. >> thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. as the world works to stop iran from developing a nuclear weapon, the latest push to bar its newest diplomat from the u.s. a diplomat accused of helping organize an investigation.

house voting today on a bill to block iran's choice for its next united nations ambassador from entering the united states. this is a guy who's been linked to a group that led the takeover of the u.s. embassy in tehran in 1979, dozens of americans held hostage for 444 days. judith miller is a fox news contributor. it's not just those episodes. this is a guy who may have been instrumental in planning the assassination of an iranian dissident in italy. >> this is a report from the mek, an opposition group whose record is spotty. they have been very strong on their reports on iranian nuclear activities, less strong on terrorism. but whether or not this latest report is true, this is a man whom is just -- it's a mystifying appointment. the iranians have said it's definitive.

but why, if you want good relations with the united states and you want a nuclear deal and you want sanctions lifted, would you nominate someone who kidnapped or helped kidnap americans -- >> because they don't care about good relations with the united states and have to intent of stopping their nuclear program. >> they're doing what putin is doing, testing american will and resolve. they want to see if we want a nuclear deal more than they do. they want to see if they can have their nuclear cake and diplomatic relations with the united states, too. and it is now a moment of truth for the obama administration. they have got to decide whether or not this provocation -- and that's what it is -- is going to be ignored in the interest of the iranian talks or whether or not we're going to put our foot down and say, individuals like this, even if they've changed their minds and grown up -- he was a student, after all -- are not appropriate as a u.n. ambassador.

>> so they doubt the will and resolve of this president in particular? >> absolutely, absolutely. >> that's why they're testing it? >> right. >> i wish we had more time to talk about it. it's an important subject. but we had to cover the president's seiche. thank you very much. >> thank you. kathleen sebelius testifying before the senate finance committee. but obamacare quickly became a hot topic. what happened that is stirring a lot of reaction.

♪ viral video, vile vermin on a new york city subway as commuters on an iphone camera catching a rat not on the track. >> but inside the subway car. some passengers on their seats screaming.

others were laughing. the large rat scampers from side to side on a brooklyn-bound "a" train. >> one of the people on the streets is standing on the seat -- that was greg gutfeld standing on the seat screaming. >> thanks for watching, everyone. >> see you. we start with a fox news alert today. we have exclusive new information about the missing malaysia airlines flight 370. one expert tells us definitively now whether or not those pings are actually from that plane. and the next steps to recovering the black boxes, we will hear more from him just a few minutes from now. another fox news alert for you today. the face of the irs scandal could be one step closer to jail time now. the house oversight committee voting to hold lois lerner in contempt of congress for refusing to answer their questions. hi, everyone. welcome to "the real story." i'm gretchen carlson. the resolution now goes before the entire house.