captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: working through the wreckage, looking for answers. the body of another victim is discovered, as investigators turn their attention to the engineer at the helm of the deadly amtrak derailment. good evening i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff, also ahead this thursday. a region in conflict, from yemen to iran. president obama meets with arab allies at camp david to cool tensions between the west and mideast. >> ifill: plus, raising wages for the lowest paid workers. why some c.e.o.'s choose to increase pay, saying it's good for the bottom line. >> the idea was if that people can't make ends meet at home with food and with benefits,

health, health care in particular, how can they be present, engaged, knowledge workers in the workplace when they come to work? >> woodruff: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions

and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the search for answers of what caused the deadly derailment of an amtrak train continued, as the focus shifted to the engineer. >> ifill: emergency crews worked steadily for a second day on the wreckage of amtrak train 188 in north philadelphia, as officials confirmed grim news of another death. >> we utilized our hydraulic tools to open up the train a little bit more so that we can reach the person, and were able to extricate that person and have them transported to the medical examiner's office. >> reporter: all 243 passengers and crew aboard the derailed train have now been accounted for. according to investigators, the train was moving at 102 miles an

hour tuesday night, more than twice the speed limit, when it careened off the tracks. amid the rescue and salvage, elsewhere in philadelphia this morning, a freight train also derailed in an unrelated incident. no deaths or injuries were reported. the amtrak train's engineer was identified as 32 year old new yorker brandon bostian. he suffered a concussion and other injuries during the crash on abc's "good morning america" bostian's lawyer robert goggin said his client remembers nothing of the wreck. >> he has absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the events, i'm told memory will return as concussion symptoms subside. he remembers coming into the curve, he remembers attempting to reduce speed thereafter he was thrown around knocked out just like all the other passengers on the train. >> reporter: goggin added bostian had not been drinking and that his cell phone was

turned off and stowed away at the time of the accident. yesterday, philadelphia mayor michael nutter called the engineer "reckless." this afternoon, nutter had softened his tone, but not his message: >> i was expressive in my language. but i don't think that any common sense, rational person would think that it was okay to travel at that level of speed knowing that there was a pretty significant restriction on how fast you could go through that turn. >> reporter: meanwhile, in washington, the speaker of the house, john boehner, dismissed suggestions the derailment was a direct result of federal cuts to amtrak's budget. >> they started this yesterday saying, its all about funding its all about funding, well obviously its not about funding! the train was going twice the speed limit. adequate funds were there, no money was cut from rail safety. >> reporter: he spoke the day after a house committee voted to cut amtrak funding by more than

$250 million. amtrak officials today said they hope to restore full service throughout the northeast corridor, the nation's busiest rail sector, by early next week. >> ifill: we'll talk to >> late this evening, the n.t.s.b. said in a press conference that shortly before the crash the train was going the speed limit and suddenly accelerated. president obama also said tonight the country needs to invest in infrastructure. we'll talk to lawmakers about the funding debate over amtrak later in the program. >> woodruff: in other news today, malaysia and thailand turned away three more boats crammed with more than 1100 migrants. a flood of people from bangladesh and myanmar have been abandoned at sea by human traffickers and then refused entry to thailand, malaysia and indonesia. some of the refugees have been taken in and given shelter in thailand and indonesia.

many are rohingya muslims fleeing persecution in myanmar. but the thai prime minister said his country doesn't have the resources to host everyone. >> ( translated ): do you think we can take on 3,000-4,000 people? we'd have to find space for them and hold them as they go through legal processes. if we take them all in, then anyone who wants to come will come freely. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the head of the european union's border agency warned the migrant problem in europe is set to grow. fabrice leggeri said there's a shift in where migrants are trying to enter europe, from the central mediterranean to the east by way of turkey. as a result, the e.u. border agency is boosting its operations near greece in coming weeks. >> ifill: the taliban claimed responsibility today for a hotel attack that killed 14 people in afghanistan's capital. the dead included an american, a british citizen, an italian, two pakistanis, and four indian nationals. the militant group said it targeted the park palace hotel last night because it's popular with foreigners. the hours-long siege ended early

this morning. kabul's police chief said it's still unclear how they were able to infiltrate the building. >> ( translated ): our investigative teams are working to figure out how the attack happened because it did not start with an explosion at the main gate or the killing of guards. whatever it was, it started from inside the hotel. our investigative teams are working to figure out how these terrorists managed to enter the guest house. >> ifill: police said all the attackers were killed in a shootout with afghan troops. >> woodruff: fighting broke out in burundi in central africa today in the wake of yesterday's coup attempt. plumes of smoke rose above the capital and gunfire rang out in the streets, as fighters loyal to the president battled rebel forces. the president's office said he was back in the country. he'd been in tanzania when the coup attempt happened. >> ifill: in nepal, the prime minister admitted his country was overwhelmed and underprepared for its second earthquake in less than three

weeks. at least 110 people died in tuesday's quake. april's earthquake killed more than 8,100 people. dan rivers of independent television news traveled by helicopter for a remote rescue today. >> reporter: finally the awful scale of nepal's suffering is being laid bare. the bright orange of dozens of shelters amid the rubble. we're flying up the khumbu valley toward mount everest. our pilot has been told of a woman who needs urgent medical care in a remote village. we fly east over a buddhist monastery now lying in ruins. >> you can just about make out the monks around the temporary shelters they put up. >> reporter: the mountains are scarred by violent seismic activity which has left the hillsides dangerously unstable.

as we approach village of aiselukharka, we're looking for a distress signal. >> we need to find her, look for her. >> it's spotted, it's spotted! >> reporter: far below, a group of people and a faint wisp of smoke. but it's a tricky landing on a steep hillside. we find 40-year-old gori mayaban on a stretcher and in pain. the villages are clearly distressed but relieved. they say she has internal bleeding after being hit by falling debris during tuesday's quake. they have endured not one but two disasters here. and on every face, it shows. these helicopter flights are the only way into these remote areas of nepal. and for the injured, they are a lifeline. as carefully as they can, they get her into the helicopter. her husband prakesh bids farewell to this village, cut off 6,000 feet up in the himalayas. the weather is closing in.

and our pilot knows how perilous these mountains can be. 45 minutes later, we touched down at a hospital in kathmandu. gori mayaban is rushed inside and our pilot rushes off on another rescue. >> ifill: crews are still searching for a missing u.s. marine helicopter that disappeared tuesday while delivering aid. so far there's been no sign of the six u.s. marines and two nepalese soldiers on board. >> woodruff: back in this country, the u.s. house of representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation that would let congress review and even reject any nuclear deal with iran. the vote was 400 to 25 and the bill now goes to president obama. administration officials have said he will sign it, after threats to veto an earlier version. lawmakers in the senate reached a compromise last week that dropped some of the bill's toughest provisions. >> ifill: an inspector general's report unveils embarrassing new details about the two secret service agents who crashed their car in front of the white house

earlier this year. the report said the agents spent more than $100 on drinks prior to the accident, and were quote "more likely than not" impaired by alcohol. they also went home without taking a sobriety test. one of the agents is retiring the other is on administrative leave. >> woodruff: on wall street today, stocks rebounded and broke a three-day slump on encouraging data on the u.s. job market. the dow jones industrial average gained 192 points to close at 18,252. the nasdaq rose nearly 70 points. and the s-and-p 500 added 22 points. still to come on the newshour: lawmakers debate funding for amtrak; president obama and arab leaders convene at camp david to address conflict in the mideast; soldiers fight boko haram to keep it from crossing into cameroon; why big business is backing the trade deal with asia; how increasing wages for the lowest paid workers can help the bottom line; and, a pioneer of promoting

organic food into the kitchen. >> ifill: following the deadly train derailment in philadelphia, a house committee voted to cut money for amtrak's capital investment program. the move sparked a fight over funding infrastructure. we talk to a pair of key lawmakers. representative chakah fattah is a democrat from pennsylvania whose district includes philadelphia and congressman john mica is a republican from florida who serves on the house transportation & infrastructure committee. welcome to you both. congressmen,iment to ask you both, starting with you, john mica, do you think congress has adequately funded amtrak? >> i think given amtrak's history of poor performance, i think they've given them more than enough money subs diegz last year, for example every ticket onam track, all 30.9

million $42 on average. >> ifill: congressman fatah. >> there's no passenger rail in the world that is not subsidized. that's number one. the president and the transportation experts in our government proposed $2.4 billion for capital and safety improvements that congress yesterday, on the appropriations committee, cut that by $1.3 billion. i asked for us to go back to the frompresident's request. instead of doing that what they did was not honor the increase the president wanted. they cut last year's appropriation by more than $250 million. so i think that it would have been better not to even have the committee yesterday because it mures into the story about the the train accident in philadelphia. but this was a committee that had been said to me a month ago, the subcommittee had voted these cuts, and the majority decided notwithstanding what happened in philadelphia they wanted to make the point as you heard from my

colleague here, that they don't think we should be subsidizing passenger rail. i think we should and i think we need to invest the dollars necessary to make sure that it it's safe. >> ifill: congressman mike aspeaker boehner said today this accident was about speed, not about infrastructure or about funding amtrak in general. was that your point of view as well? >> well, that's my point of view. and let me say, again when president obama was elected, he was going to create high-speed rail in the united states. instead of putting it in a northeast corridor which is the only track the 600 miles that amtrak owns-- the rest of amtrak runs over private freight rails -- he took $10 billion, about $6 billion going to california, mostly where there's fruits and vegetables to move, ill yoi where they're going to have high-speed rail which runs about 65 miles an hour $1.5 billion

there. instead of investing it in the northeast corridor, where we could have high-speed rail where we have the connections, we could have the revenue and expand the system. >> ifill: so are you saying that if the president had spent money that was already allocated differently, an accident like yesterday would have been less likely. >> we couldn't have in the northeast corridor, high-speed service and dramatic revenues and exchanged the pattern of traffic. there are, contrary to what my colleague has said, there are systems that do make money. virgin rail installed in the north-south from london to north england route they increased passengers from 14 million to 28 million, went from a deficit of 400 million, subsidized by the federal-- the british government, to that much in revenue coming in to the british treasury in 10 years glooifl well, let me -- >> the mod cell there across the world, and we're a third-world

soviet style train operation. >> ifill: let me let your colleague respond to that. >> you don't have to listen to a republican or democrat representative from congress. we have the national transportation safety board, and they have said in terms of the philadelphia accident, that it would not have happened if we had positive train control. we know that that investment could have been made. it hasn't been made. so we hear not from politicians but from experts that yes, we could have safe passenger rail travel in our country. we have to make the investment needed to do so. >> ifill: when you say "positive train control" i just want to make sure everyone understands that would automatically override the engineer, slow a train that was going faster than the speed limit. you believe-- now that's supposed to be in all trains by the end of this year. do you think that's going to happen or is that going to be delayed? well, the congress has mandated it by the end of the year. there were a number of members in the senate who wanted to delay it to 2020.

i don't think there's going to be any delay now. i think we are going to move forward, and the technology save lives at least based on what experts say not on what politicians say. there's a debate whether bwhether we should have passenger rail and whether we should subsidize it. the point is we have it and we should make sure it's safe. just like we want bridges and horizon to be safe. we have to invest in infrastructure. we have the world economic forum-- since my colleague wants to talk about international measurements-- says america has the 12th worst infrastructure in the world. so, you know, if the government's not going to step up to its responsibility, then we're going to continue to have our economy take a back seat. >> ifill: congressman mica, how much of this is about ideology, when it comes right down to it, that you and your party just don't agree this should be a public rail system and they believe there should be more spent? >> gwen, you're talking to one of the most strong-- well, the

strongest advocate in congress for passenger rail. it's cost effective. we should have it. in fact, i put in the last passenger rail bill that we passed the creationave northeast corridor commission, which i tried to empower to get them to advance improvements. they just came out with a report two weeks ago and i support that report. it calls for $20 billion. but congress isn't going to give it to amtrak which fumbles every bit of acquisition money and they-- they've had the money since october to put in the positive train control and the other improvements, and they didn't do it. so that could have been avoided if they'd considered safety first when they spent will more than $1 billion we gave them last october. >> ifill: congressman mica i gave you the first word, let me give congressman fattah the last word. >> it's true my colleague put in place this commission. he wassed two have 228-mile-per-hour trains in the

northeast corridor. they call for not $20 billion but $117 billion in investments in order to have that happen. i think that would move our economy forward. it's going to need the investment of the federal government if that's going to happen. and so i support him if that's the way we're gog proceed. >> ifill: john mica, republican of florida, congressman chakah fattah democrat from pennsylvania, a fundamentally different point of view on a very serious issue. thank you both very much. >> ifill: a different look now at the accident in philadelphia, and how the citizens of the city of brotherly love are helping the victims however they can. the newshour's stephen fee has our story. >> reporter: a second day of cleanup and recovery here in the port richmond section of philadelphia, where amtrak train 188 derailed tuesday night. while federal investigators continue to pore over the evidence, regional red cross officials like leo pratte have turned out to help victims and their families.

>> we're going to be working on the mental health status with all the families that are involved in the situation, and that's where disaster and mental health team come into play and our spiritual care teams will come into play. >> so all our cameras go away you guys stay here. >> yes sir. >> reporter: pratte and his group of volunteers have set up a relief center at a marriott hotel in downtown philadelphia. >> the fact that it happened in this city and everybody steps up to the plate when something like this happens is one of the great things about the organization such as the red cross is that it's driven by volunteers, it's ran by volunteers, and these are people who are doing their job every day living life normal and when something like this happens they drop everything. >> reporter: his team will be here as long as they're needed. red cross officials are often the first on the scene after tragedies like tuesday's derailment. but here in the city of brotherly love, every-day residents are living up to that nickname as well, donating their time, effort, and even technological know-how to the recovery effort. when patrick murphy first learned about tuesday's crash, he knew his company could help.

>> we happen to be right next door to where the amtrak crash happened in philadelphia. >> reporter: murphy's company called gridless power, makes compact battery packs, allowing first responders to power their phones, laptops, and lights for potentially days on a single one-hour charge. >> it's a big battery pack that can be charged from whatever power's available. so it allows a responder to go into a disaster zone. you don't have to worry about watt outlets or plugs. you can put the system down push the on button, and then you're good to go. you've got power wherever you need. >> reporter: the company has provided these 50-pound battery packs to emergency officials in places like new jersey after hurricane sandy and nepal following the recent earthquakes. but murphy says he never thought he'd be able to put them to good use so close to his hometown. they've offered four of their units to emergency officials here in philly so far. >> there were no complaints from any of the guys here. you know amtrak, a train just

derailed. i know it's after work hours this was ten thirty at night. let's just go see if we can help. >> reporter: minister joe furjanic also felt compelled to lend a hand. his congregation, the block church, is just blocks away from where the train skidded off the tracks. >> this is what we do. this is who we are, and you know, let's meet a need. if there's a need let's meet it. >> reporter: furjanic, his wife and some of the church's parishioners quickly got to the scene to pass out water bottles and clean up garbage. they haven't left since. >> look it wasn't even-- it's not like a bunch of our people were in the train wreck, you know, it was people commuting and stuff like that, but just the energy and i think the passion of just our church, you know, here we are, this is our block, this is our neighborhood. >> reporter: furjanic says it's a small effort, but his church will be here for the rest of the week, helping out wherever they can. for the pbs newshour, i'm

stephen fee at the site of the amtrak crash in philadelphia. >> woodruff: president obama attempted to mend fences with concerned partners in the arab world today. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. >> warner: the gathering in the woodland presidential getaway of camp david was designed to cool tensions between the u.s. and some its key persian gulf allies in the middle east, reassuring them of u.s. backing amid regional upheaval and hearing their concerns about the u.s. nuclear talks with iran. but deputy national security adviser, ben rhodes, said the meeting with six members of the g.c.c., the gulf cooperation council, would not produce a nato-like security treaty, which some had sought. >> we're not initiating treaties, mutual defense treaties with our g.c.c. partners. the interest in that type of arrangement i will tell you has

not been uniform across the g.c.c. >> warner: even before leaders arrived here in the maryland mountains, the divisions were clear. of the gulf states in attendance, saudi arabia, qatar u.a.e., kuwait, oman and bahrain, only two sent their heads of state. the most notable missing figure? the new saudi king salman. he backed out just days after the administration said he'd take part. though the white house denied his absence was a snub. the tensions over the west's pursuit of a deal to curb shiite iran's nuclear program before the end of june are obvious. if a deal is reached, many economic sanctions on iran would be lifted. gulf nations worry that will enable iran to make more mischief in the region through proxies like hezbollah in syria, and the shiite houthi rebels in yemen. the saudis have led a month-long bombing campaign there against

that uprising. today, rhodes sought to provide assurance the deal is only about one thing. >> this is a nuclear deal we're doing on the merits of the deal itself, not as a part of a change broadly in the u.s.-iran relationship. >> reporter: today's summit also comes over how to conduct the region-wide fight against "islamic state" militants. and syria's civil war, where the gulf states want washington to be more aggressive. the president, who spoke just a short time ago, tried to use the gathering to reassure his partners. >> we discussed not only the iranian nuclear deal and the potential for us to ensure that iran is not obtaining a nuclear weapon and triggering a nuclear armses race in the region, but we also discussed our concerns about iran's destabilizing activities in the region. >> reporter: at day's end, they did announce agreements on ways to beef you want u.s. gulf

defense partnership in areas like maritime security, missile defense and cyber security. but despite the cooperative steps announced today, this u.s.-gulf relationship is likely to hit more rough patches ahead. >> woodruff: and joining me now from camp david is margaret. margaret welcome. so you were telling us a little bit about what's come out of this. tell us more. fill in some of the details. >> warner: well, judy what the gulf countries got was a very robust statement by the president and in this joint statement, that the security of the gulf states is very much in the national security interest of the united states and the u.s. will use its power frankly including military power, to secure those states from any threat from the outside, any kind of aggression from the outside. and then as i just report, in specific areas, the u.s. will also work with these partners to beef up their own capabilities

in countering a symmetric warfare, whether counter attacks or cyber attacks. from that point view, the gulf states got something. but the obama administration did not get-- or let me put it this way-- all it got on the iran nuclear talks front was a statement by the emir of qatar, who appeared with the president afterwards, and said the hope was that an iran nuclear deal would have a stabilizing effect in the region. that is not exactly what the administration wanted, but it is something. >> woodruff: so, margaret, does that mean fell short on the iran side and the gulf states didn't get necessarily what they wanted -- nobody is going home with everything they wanted. >> warner: absolutely, judy. on the u.s. side, what the u.s. had really hoped for was an endorsement of president obama's argument the best way to keep

iran from becoming a destabilizing force is this diplomatic track. that they did not get that kind of endorsement. the gulf statesaise reported earlier, wanted a nato-like defense treaty. as one official said,"we've always had a gentleman's agreement. now we want it on paper." they did not get that. ben rhodes was frank about why. it's not just that it's very hard to get it through the senate. that would take years, but these are all democracies, the u.s. and canada and its european your partners, and the gulf states are not democracies. they are very unapologetic about it. the ambassador from the u.a.e. last week said publicly, "no we don't share your democratic values but we fought together as partners in six conflicts--" for example in the continent flict right now in syria. there's a real division there,

and as rhodes said today nato is founded on a lot more than just defense. >> woodruff: elizabethmarg joining us from camp david, thank you. >> ifill: nigerian government forces have reportedly been making progress in their campaign against boko haram. winning back villages from the islamic militant group in recent weeks. but there has been spillover into neighboring cameroon, with increased incursions by fleeing extremists. lindsey hilsum of independent television news was given rare access to the special forces in that country, as they struggle to keep boko haram at bay. >> reporter: we're on our way towards the border with nigeria, speeding along in a cameroonian military convoy. the villages are ever more remote, the land parched and

rocky, we're driving through territory boko haram wants to occupy, past people they want to rule. the troops are here for our protection because in boko haram's eyes foreigners are valuable commodities for kidnap. we're going to a remote outpost where there was fighting this very morning. we're very near the border now just where the incursions by boko haram and clashes are happening all the time. i'm with the rapid reaction force, the elite of the cameroonian army, trained by the israelis and well armed. they've born the brunt of these battles with boko haram but they haven't won yet. the outpost at zelevet is less than half a kilometer from the border, now the nigerian army has started to flush them out of the forests beyond, boko haram is hiding in mountain caves and raiding into cameroon more frequently.

they ambushed a patrol last saturday. >> ( translated ): we were shot at from just over there. we returned fire and at the end of this contact we counted our casualties: two dead and four injured including one civilian. >> reporter: amongst the injured, now in the military hospital, the platoon commander, he was expecting this. >> ( translated ): they had already left a letter with a bullet in it at our base, 200 meters inside our borders. it was a threat that they would attack. >> reporter: the next day, we're in another convoy, even more heavily armed for our protection. we're heading to bia, a border village that was attacked by boko haram last month. as we arrive, the villagers line the route, they're used to daily military patrols now, they know the soldiers will gather them together under the trees in the

village center. the women sit separately, they tell me boko haram killed ten people and kidnapped three girls in the raid. >> ( translated ): we were sleeping when they came. it was midnight. suddenly we heard gunfire so we woke up. mothers gathered up their babies and ran, so did the men. they set fire to houses and all our belongings were burnt. we have nothing left, absolutely nothing. >> reporter: the people of bia are from the kanuri tribe which straddles the border. most boko haram fighters are kanuris, and some boys from this village have been recruited. village elders say they're caught between the two sides, and that's why they were attacked. >> ( translated ): the soldiers said there were boko haram in this village, but we said "no." then they said if you catch one you must hand him over to us, and if you refuse we'll do exactly the same to you as we would to him.

the military threatened us. >> reporter: soldiers patrol the village, under pressure the villagers did indeed turn over a local boy who had joined boko haram, and the april attack was the jihadis' revenge. boukar malloum shows me his compound. two of his relatives were burnt alive, he says. boko haram set fire only to the houses of those who refused to collaborate with them, they had intelligence, they knew which houses to target. the soldiers say that proves some are acting as informers and they'll already have called boko haram by mobile to tell them of our presence. they don't trust the villagers, their enemy's kinsmen. >> they're brothers and sisters, children, others, all the like people of the same family.

it's not easy for someone to give up a brother or sister even if it's the devil. >> reporter: our last journey, to minawa the refugee camp where 35,000 nigerians have fled. in the last two weeks they've registered another 2,000. those who've been here for a year or more suspect that the new arrivals are family members of boko haram fighters suddenly under pressure from the nigerian army. their proof? the newcomers are vague about their origins, and they've wiped the sim cards on their phones. since the beginning of this year, the cameroonian army has brought a modicum of peace, kidnapping and killing has decreased. but until nigerian forces take full control of boko haram areas, people in cameroon's far north will never feel safe from the men in caves across the border.

>> woodruff: today the republican-controlled senate put president obama's trade deal with asia back on track, with a move that can clear the way for a final vote to give the president authority to negotiate the pact. this week we've spoken to leading senators and the head of a major labor union. now, hari sreenivasan gets a business perspective. >> sreenivasan: it comes from the u. s. chamber of commerce, which represents three million businesses and employers. it has been pushing hard for the deal. john murphy is a senior vice president who focuses on trade and joins me now. so, why in your opinion is this a good deal for you and your members? >> well, trade has risen to the top of the agenda in wash because it's one of the best ways we have to drive economic growth and job creation here at home. it's already provided about a third of our economic growth over the past five years. but we hope it can do a lot more. on top of the 40 million jobs that depend on trade today, on top of the one in three aches, or farm that depend on trade,

but if you dig into it a little bit, you find that the playing field for american companies and the workers they employ really isn't always level. as we're shipping goods, services around the world, we find they often face trade barriers, tariffs that are in the double dejitz and other kinds of non-tariff barriers that shut out made in u.s.a. products. trade agreements are one way we have to tear down the barriers. >> sreenivasan: one of the criticisms we've heard in is why is this being done in secret? one reporter found a corridor where members of congress have to keep their phones off. why not naik public? >> the debate about trade promotion authority is in part a way to regularize the way these negotiations take place. trade promotion authority is about ensuring that the congress and the white house actually work together on trade. it's a commonsense notion but

one we don't get enough of here in the city. so this bill, in addition to laying out the parameters for the white house consulting with the congress, and the congress holding the white house accountable, it would lay out new provisions to ensure that members of congress can review texts. at the end of the day though, it's important to have a agree of confidentiality in negotiating texts. after all, a high school football coach doesn't want to share his game plan with the opposing team. you risk giving away showing your sensitivities and red lieps and at the end of the day that could result in a weaker agreement that is not in the interest of american workers. >> sreenivasan: the head of a labor union on this program said 60,000 factories have closed since nafta, and that there are many parts of this agreement that are modeled on nafta or previous trade agreements. what kinds of protections are there for american jobs? >> well, actually, in the past 20 years, the output of american manufacturing is up by about 80%. american manufacturing has done

quite well, especially since the recession, we're seeing new growth. we're seeing hiring. but there's truth in this that american manufacturers are employing fewer workers. that's because there's been a productivity revolution. there's information technologies, increasingly sophisticate capital goods that allow them to make more products with fewer workers. and that's a reality in the global economy today that we all have to wrestle with. what we need most of all, though, is more customers for american manufacturers so they can make the goods here with american workers and sell them around the world. >> sreenivasan: so there's some concern that vietnam is not a free-market country. sometimes the average wage there is 56 cents an hour. if i'm an american company, would i choose to make, let's say, socks for $10 an hour in the u.s. or through this trade agreement, wouldn't i want to offshore shows jobs to a much, much cheaper market? >> well, wages reflect productivity. and the reality is american wages are a lot higher because american workers are that much

more productive. what we need is a level playing field. and that's why these trade agreements by sweeping weight tariff barriers are in the american interest. our market's pretty much wide open. but the other markets we face such as vietnam, they have tariffs in the doubling and triple digits that shut out american farm goods and manufacturing products. by having that level playing field, you help american workers here to ship their goods there. we already have one-way free trade with good coming in. >> sreenivasan: another concern is this would give corporationing a right to sue governments north in our courts, but in these tribunals and sometimes the threats or the fines are so significant, that governments water down their own regulations, whether environmental regulations, worker protections and even foreign companies that work in the united states, could do that to us. >> you know, i think in this debate you're hearing concern about this because most of the american people have never heard of these things. there's a reason for that. they've been around for decades.

there are thousands of agreements around the world that have these provisions, but in the united states, they're almost never invoked. there have only been 17 occasions in the past four decades when anyone has brought one of these cases against the united states, and the united states has never lost a case. that's because we have rule of law here and companies use the domestic courts. what these are most useful for though, is when american companies are doing business abroad in country where's the rule of law isn't so strong. >> sreenivasan: so a final question for you, whether it's on food or prescription drugs or i should say pharmaceuticals, there's this concern we won't have the enforcement teeth to make sure other countries are playing by these shared rules. >> well that's actually an argument for the agreements. right now oftentimes we've got nothing. these new agreements have the opportunity to write new rules that will protect the intellectual property that 40 million american jobs depend on. they will have rules to ensure that labor rights are not

watered down in the interest to try to attract investment. and there's also environmental protections that are cutting new ground. so i think from across the board, that's why you see growing support. that's why you have 65 senators voting for this today to move forward. that's why you have the whole business community supporting it displawr john murphy, thanks so much. >> thank you very much. >> ifill: next, raising wages for the lowest-paid workers. economics correspondent paul solman looks at why some companies use it to boost their bottom lines. it's part of our ongoing reporting, "making sense," which airs every thursday on the newshour. >> there are necessities and there are wants. you know what i mean? >> reporter: forget his wants health insurance claims servicer kendrick brown has barely been able to afford life's necessities, like a car after his was totaled.

>> my insurance paid off what the car was worth, but, as far as what i had borrowed to actually purchase the car, i still owed. once you get in such a hole, you're like, would it make more sense for me to actually, you know, file bankruptcy? >> reporter: so when his employer, aetna, recently, voluntarily and suddenly raised its minimum wage to $16 an hour. >> after taxes, it's somewhere between $100 and $150 dollars every check? and, that goes a long way. that goes a long way. >> reporter: brown is one of the roughly 6,000 lowest-paid aetna employees, out of a workforce of 49,000, who got raises this spring. on average, 11%, with some as high as 33%. call centers like this one in fresno, california are home to many of the firm's lowest paid workers. we visited on the payday the raises took effect. >> everyone went in and looked and were like, "oh, it's there!" you know? this, it's really there. >> reporter: kristen sargent

among the 233 workers here whose paychecks rose. >> it's like, on paper! you know? it's there! it went into effect! >> reporter: sargent will earn over a dollar more an hour, lives some 40 miles from the office. >> my husband works in construction. and of course, that's a seasonal job. and so, we're dependent on just me. we're a family of five. i have three kids, it's hard to tell them they can't go hang out with the other kids, and do what the other kids are doing, just because you don't have the money. >> reporter: erica garcia is grateful for her raise. one of her young sons is still in daycare. and another is coming soon. >> i've already delegated that money towards daycare for my new baby. >> reporter: and next year aetna also plans to offer lower-cost benefits to those below a certain income threshold. c.e.o. mark bertolini is the driving force. >> it's not just about paying them more. it's about creating for them a higher level of personal disposable income that allows them to engage in the economy, feel part of their communities and feel good about the place

they work at. >> reporter: the c.e.o. does have his reasons. >> we now have a lot of financial capital in the system. we can borrow money cheaply as corporations, $3.8 trillion around the world in capital sitting in, inside of companies. so let's invest in husband or scarce resource, which is talent, a motivated, engaged, present worker. and let's put at risk some of our capital to do it. >> reporter: so after decades in which corporate america was all about "maximizing shareholder value," aetna is raising wages at the bottom unilaterally. gravity payments, a 120-person credit card payment processing firm, is going even further. raising its minimum to $70,000 a year effectively doubling the pay of its 30 lowest-paid workers. the gap, starbucks, walmart and mcdonalds have also announced increases, perhaps tied to public pressure, minimum wage

campaigns, picketing. economist arin dube. >> there's growing attention and public pressure to raise wages at the bottom so i find it really interesting that these companies aren't just simply raising wages for all their workers, but, also raising specifically at the bottom. >> reporter: dube has studied the effect of higher wages on worker productivity. >> when companies raise wages, they actually do reap the benefits of increased productivity via increased effort, morale, lower turnover better pool of applicants they can select from. >> reporter: or, as aetna's c.e.o. puts it: >> the idea was if that people can't make ends meet at home with food and with benefits, health, health care in particular, how can they be present, engaged, knowledge workers in the workplace when they come to work? >> reporter: especially since their jobs servicing insurance customers can be something of a trial. >> you may have to hit the mute button and just go--

( deep breaths ). okay, back in, here we go! >> i try to stay upbeat. and just, you know, just remind them hey, we're on the same team. sometimes they don't believe that, but, i do my best to let them know that. >> reporter: c.e.o. bertolini hopes to improve customers' satisfaction. their feedback has not been kind to insurance companies. >> you guys are worse than the cable industry and you're worse than the airlines. not high praise. and the only thing that saves us is that we're higher than congress. >> reporter: another goal of the wage hike is to reduce turnover costs, some $120 million a year. >> the higher your turnover, the more difficult it is to carry on a culture that's focused on taking care of customers, in a knowledgeable and a more empathic way. >> i'm going to pay the whole amount, not just the past due amount this time. >> reporter: and it wouldn't be a shock if kendrick brown were now be a more productive worker. >> i don't have to stress that oh my god, on my break i need to call and make a payment arrangement with comcast. or, oh my god, on my lunch break i need to call p.g.&.e. and figure out how i'm gonna pay the

rest of that bill. >> reporter: more money makes erica garcia less inclined to leave aetna. >> i think what it does is helps me feel comfortable in my decision that i wanted to, to stay with aetna long-term. >> reporter: now, the pay raise and benefit program for low-wage workers will cost aetna only $26 million dollars, while the c.e.o. alone made $15.6 million last year, though most of it in stock options. so you're really not talking about a huge investment here? >> mmm, mmm. >> reporter: so, why don't you do more? >> we will, over time. as the company's more successful, we'll share in that success. and we'll find different ways to do it. >> reporter: and, if the company's not more successful? >> well, then everybody suffers. >> reporter: including aetna's investors, notes economist dube. >> it'll be interesting to see if there's been a real change in the way investors in america react to the news of rising labor costs. >> reporter: for now, though, kendrick brown is among those thankful for the investment.

>> that living check to check thing? is not my goal in life. not that i need to go out and you know, spend money and be rich, or whatever. but, at the same time, just be comfortable and happy. >> reporter: aetna is betting that comfortable and happy workers will mean less uncomfortable and unhappy customers, and in the end, a better bottom line. this is economics correspondent paul solman reporting, happily for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: a pioneer of the food movement has long been stirring the pot to get quality organic integrated into america's diet. jeffrey brown has the latest addition to our newshour bookshelf. >> brown: nora pouillon's day begins early. tending to the herb garden at her washington, d.c. restaurant named "nora," and then working

through the menu with her chefs. on this day it featured gingery carrot soup with creme fraiche grilled sustainable salmon with roasted parsnips, rapini minneola orange ginger vinagrette and bittersweet molten chocolate cake. it's all part of running a restaurant, and a special one at that: the nation's first certified organic restaurant. >> you have to learn about the season, you have to learn about the agriculture, you have to learn about the chemistry of food. you have to learn to have a budget, you have to learn about food cost, about labor cost. every day is like nearly show time, will all the people show up? >> brown: pouillon's new book, "my organic life", tells how she got there: growing up on a farm in the austrian alps and later vienna. then moving in the 1960s with her then husband, a frenchman, to the united states, where she was shocked by the highly- processed, hormone-infused food she found. >> the produce department was the smallest department.

the iceberg lettuce was everywhere, the oranges and apples and pears, no fresh garlic, no fresh herbs, no nice lettuces. i would never forget it. in europe, you go from little place to place and you go from your butcher to your green grocer to the baker and you have a discussion. the experience of going to the supermarket was different. >> brown: and also you write, wonder bread, the great staple. >> rolls and rolls of wonder bread. i remember when pepperidge farm came and it was like wow, this revelation! >> brown: she started out cooking for friends, then became a cooking instructor, before opening "nora" in 1979. it would become a great success; a destination for presidents. but in the beginning, she remembers, "healthy food" was a tough sell. she first called it "additive- free," but a friend convinced her that didn't sound very tasty.

>> you have to educate people that it's important what they put in their bodies, very important because that's how they feel and that's how they behave and that's how they think. i mean in this country, the health problems are enormous. the value of making orphannics available to all. >> it's always more expensive because the cost of food is not the true cost, and so much of the food here is subsidized, and all the bad food is subsidized, unfortunately. my motto is always i prefer to spend my money on food and not on the doctor. >> brown: much has changed, of course making organic foods more access and i believe affordable. she helped found washington,

d.c.'s first producers-only farmers market the kind found in many cities around the country. she works with local growers to build a pipeline of seasonal organic food, close to her restaurant. >> you cannot start out your day with bacon and eggs and then have for lunch a big hamburger and then have for dinner pork chops and apple pie. that doesn't work. >> brown: but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy eating. >> this restaurant, my point was to show people that if you have wholesome, nutritious ingredients, then you can cook whatever you want. but you can have all of these things, but you know not on the same day. and if the ingredients themselves are pure and wholesome, the i don't see any point in keeping a special diet. your diet is the way you eat is just use certified organic ingredients. >> brown: that certification comes from the u.s. department of agriculture. >> it means that they have no pesticides, no antibiotics, no

hormones. this is all vegetables so it wouldn't have that. no fungicides, basically no pesticides. >> brown: cooking organically having an organic kitchen means it makes it harder in some ways. >> first of all, i deal with 35 different farmers. because one does the chicken, one does only the beef, the other one does only the pork. everyone does something different. somebody has only the eggs, the milk, yogurt. so i deal with all these farmers and then what happens is they don't deliver everyday, they don't have everything every day. suddenly he doesn't have enough chickens because it was too cold, the chickens didn't want to eat and the chickens that usually weigh 3.5 pounds suddenly weigh two pounds. >> brown: and then for you, it's uh-oh. >> for me, it's-- i have no chickens! >> brown: no chickens one day so more creativity required in the kitchen. there seems to be more of that

in american kitchens these days: there are now well over 100 certified organic restaurants in the u.s. reading and hoping to eat for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in washington, dc. >> ifill: now to our newshour shares of the day. something that caught our eye, that might be of interest to you, too. it's said to be the world's oldest-known letter on parchment, at least in private hands. it was written in 1,190 from one italian businessman to another. and it's on view to the public this week in london, part of an exhibition for stamp enthusiasts and historical-document buffs. on the newshour online, scientists are mapping the bottom of the ocean, and they sent cameras three miles deep to catch a glimpse of life there. check out the story on our homepage, where you can see pictures and video of rare sea stars, jellyfish and asphalt volcanos that erupt on the seafloor.

that's all on pbs.org/newshour. tune in later this evening... on charlie rose: conan o'brien on his career in late night. and that's the newshour for tonight. on friday, saving syria's priceless antiquities from the ravages of war. i'm gwen ifill. and i'm judy woodruff, we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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