abandoned in the epic gridlock but that may be easier said than done. many were towed out of the way to clear the roads. the department of transportation wants people to head to one of two staging sites where the national guard is standing by to help. the chaos though was not just confined to the end, gridlock gripped birmingham alabama, where children were forced to sleep in schools and frustrated drivers were stranded in birmingham as well. as things thaw out in the south, the political storm seems to just being heaping heating up. atlanta's mayor tried to do damage control this morning on "morning joe". >> almost every photo you showed on this program and others are ever the highways around the region. and folks on your show know that the highways are not the responsibility of the city. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez starts us off with more on the fallout.

>> reporter: the mayor said that the city did all it could to prevent this and learned many storms from the ice storm of 2011 and this response was better than that ice storm which paralyzed the city for four days. many people here in atlanta disagree. they say that city and state officials should have seen this coming and paid attention to the changing forecast and really should have prepared for this better than they did. >> rusty paul is the mayor of one of those metro area municipalities that was especially heart hid. sandy springs just north of atlanta. mayor, good to see you. the snow is past not the political firestorm though. mayor reed says that this was a coordination issue. is that your sense? what should have been done differently in your opinion? >> well first of all, it would have been -- the number of calls on the road made it impossible for any jurisdiction to get their trucks out to sand and

salt. in sandy springs on the north side of the city of atlanta, we mobilized early and got -- one he one of largest medical centers in the region and pretreated pill hill the three major hospitals on the north side are located. we also salted around the schools. when everybody hit the road at the same time, it made it very difficult for us to move our trucks in and out. what we did is we didn't pay attention to jurisdictional lines. when we had people getting people out of our city and next jurisdiction had clogged streets, we helped move those people so they could get home. when it was real obvious that a lot of people were going to be stranded i spent most of my time trying to get emergency shelters open and first responders getting people out of the cold and into warm safe places where they could be fed and housed at least until the worst of it passed. >> moving forward in atlanta in the metro area we're not

just -- we want to make sure -- we're not just talking about atlanta proper moving forward, how do we fix this? how do we prevent something like this from happening again? >> well we have to realize that mother nature is still the most powerful force we know in the universe. sometimes she's going to brew up a situation that no human effort can totally solve. our focus now is on making sure that we we do in the future is try to shelter people in place until we can get the roads done. if you sent kids home from school and you've got a mom who is one or two -- first or second graders going home and told she's going to stay at work. good luck enforcing that order. what we need to make sure is people stay sheltered in place until the roads are treated then we can move people safely home. once everybody gets out there, you can't mobilize forces to be able to solve the problem. sandy pringz we got real kuddos

for the work our first responders did. >> how much would it have helped had the governor there declared a state of emergency sooner? >> i don't know a state of emergency sooner would have kept everybody from hitting the roads all at once. in hindsite if we can called off school that morning and been able to keep government workers off the roads, it would have obviously helped the problem a little bit. but it didn't hit until noon so people were already at work and already at school and trying to get home. i was one of them. it took me three and a half hours. my daughter was in a wreck and my son fell and broke his leg. we were all victims of this whole process. >> your mother too i understand. >> we need to be able to learn the lessons and part of it is making sure people stay calm and in their location until we get the roads fixed. >> didn't also something happen to your mother? >> i heard you talk about birmingham, alabama, that's where she is and she fell she's

88 years old, fell getting out of bed this morning and i've got a cousin with a 4 wheel drive hauling her to the hospital. those of us leaders aren't immune in this whole process either. it's been challenging on a professional level and community, i've only been in office three weeks, so somebody told me yesterday, it wasn't trial by fire but trial by ice. we're coming through it and things are better today than they were yesterday. >> sandy springs mayor, rusty paul. thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> president obama back on the road taking a second term agenda to the people of wisconsin. we'll bring you those remarks live in just a few minutes. zú keeping up with these two is more than a full time job and i don't have time for unreliable companies. angie's list definitely saves me time and money. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today. [ male announcer ] they say he was born to help people clean. but there are some places even mr. clean doesn't want to lug a whole bunch of cleaning supplies.

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the son of a barkeep speaker

of the house. >> speaker john boehner enjoying a stand ovation from the chamber when president obama used him as an example of how america is a place where you end up matters more than where you start. house gop members headed to the annual retreat in cambridge, mare mainyland mare. >> this problem has been around for the last 18 years and turned into a political football. i think it's unfair. so i think it's time to deal with it. but how we deal with it will be critically important. >> for more on the gop retreat, joined by nbc's luke russert there on the eastern shore. let's pick up where the speaker

picked off with regards to immigration, what can we expect to come out of this retreat? >> reporter: well, craig, it's a big day for the house gop in terms of the topic of immigration reform. around 4:30 they'll have a meeting where the gop leadership will layout principles that are going to really define the house gop approach on the issue of immigration remove moving forward. they haven't told us what they are, but from reports and conversations i've had with aides, we expect there to be talk of a possible pathway to legal resident status. we don't know how it will look but before any of the talk of legal status occurs first thing we have to see is border security. i asked john boehner about that he said border security was para mount to any deal moving forward. the senate bill that was passed in a bipartisan basis last year not enough border security for the house representative. so until the question of what is border security and what will be enough of border security to

make the house gop comfortable, we still don't exactly now how immigration reform will proceed. on the topic of the debt limit, that's something they don't want a fight about. that has been hurtful for them we expect them to have a more conciliatory approach on that. >> luke when you say border security, when the speaker says border security we know that last year the average border patrol agent, the capture rate was the lowest it's been in 20 years. the border is undeniably safer than it has been over 10 or 15 years now. how can they make that argument? >> it's interesting, it seems to be a kruch for a lot of reasons why they won't move forward. if you look at the signal bit, there were billions upon billions of dollars for border security, so much so that bob corker of tennessee said it might be overkill. john mccain, alluded to the same

thing. the idea is what is it? is it a moat with alligators and predator drones and special forces being deployed? no one has a real answer to that. part of that has been politically convenient saying they are not serious so we're not going to move forward on that. it's a fair question and one we've asked routinely and get this platte tuds and no real specifics. perhaps we'll see specifics out of the meeting today. whether it be a financial number or manpower number as of right now it's unclear. >> luke russert, standing by on eastern shore. thank you. >> take care craig, be well. >> as luke keeps an eye on the house republicans, let's check in with high profile members of the upper chamber. >> last question both of you campaigned from even against sitting senators if you think a better candidate is running, real quick? >> i'm going to stay out of races with incumbents. >> and i'm likely going to do the same.

>> rand paul of kentucky insisting that he is not going to get involved in primary challenges against incumbent republicans in this year's elections, ted cruz however, not quite as clear. he's likely to stay out of those races. if he does stay out, it would come as a huge relief for the six republican incumbents facing tea party challengers in 2014. the power panel is here host of post tv on background and hogan getly and analyst jonathan alter. we are keeping an eye on waukesha, wisconsin, where president obama is expected to speak any moment. he's going to take the podium at the ge energy plant, a plant that has been open we're told for more than a century. the president is expected to outline some of his plans to improve job training in this country. we heard him talk a lot about that in the state of the union address, saying he's going to

appoint vice president joe biden to spearhead an effort to try to figure out how to make the programs better. we'll bring it to you live. let me start with you. rand paul says it flat out, ted cruz said he's likely to stay out where gop incumbents could be picked off. do you believe him? >> i believe him at this point. cruz and rand paul made their names bucking the establishment and trying to go after some of the incumbents out there. it remains to be seen just how heavily they are going to try to attack these folks. rand paul said he's not going to and cruz hedged his but a little bit. the tea party types want a foot hold in the races. >> we can sit here and do this for a while, where tea party challenges knocked off incumbents and bob bennett lost to mike lee in utah in 2010 richard of indiana, lost to a

tea party candidate in 2012. this time around who are the most vulnerable of the six republicans in primaries this year? >> you know i think -- i don't want to dodge the question but it is probably too early to tell. you've got -- this is what we do too often in our business jump the gun. it's still january, the danger for the incumbents is in states like you just mentioned, utah the reason that bob bennett lost there is that their selection process was a state party convention rather than a primary and it's easier for the tea party activists to organize a state party convention than -- than it is to organize a full primary. also, the bloom is off the rose some for these tea party

challengers. they were much more in the driver's seat in republican primaries in 2012 and 2010. the fact that one of the cases that you mentioned, indiana, where richard lugar lost to more dock, he made one of those rape comments so he loses in the fall. there are a lot of republicans and you can tell ted cruz is hearing from them who don't want kamikaze missions and don't want to nominate somebody who will lose in the fall. even conservative republicans don't want the futile missions -- >> candidates forced to appeal to the fringe in a primary but can't move back -- can't move farther back to the middle -- >> i think it's possible they might, the tea party challengers might win in none of these states. >> it's accepted fact that a lot of democratic circles that hillary is in with regard to

2016. here's the vice president of the united states this morning on the "today" show. >> in your heart, do you want to be president? >> in my heart, i'm confident that i could make a good president. it's a very different decision to decide whether or not to run for president. and there's plenty of time. i have not made a decision to run or not to run. >> wouldn't be it better for the democratic party to have a contest in 2016 rather than merely a coranation of sorts for hillary clinton. >> i think so but hillary seems to be unstoppable, what we're being told at this point. it probably would be a good idea if hillary had a contest. the question is who is going to legitimately step up and do that? sure you might have p.m. who would sort of have no chance to

win, like a dennis kucinich type figure. but these real bona fide governor types, it doesn't seem they have the profile to do it. it looks like it's all up to hillary at this point. in terms of joe biden and talking to folks in his circle his approach is to do everything, everything he would need to do just in case something happens and hillary doesn't decide to run. >> i'm sure you've seen this new "washington post" abc news poll that's out. it took a look at governor chris christie and what these scandals have done to his political standing. right now according to this poll governor christie dropped to third behind paul ryan and former governor jeb bush as well. just ahead of ted cruz. one percentage point by ted cruz. what do you make of that? is he done? is he toast now? >> he's not done.

jonathan made a point earlier that it is too early to be talking about things like this. at this point in 2008, rudy giuliani was on top. texas governor rick perry obviously a big force coming into iowa and oopsed him off the stage. i'm not convinced all of those people are going to run. but i've long said the very attribute of chris christie that can catapult into the nomination is the one that can sink him before he gets out of the harbor. it's not his politics, it's his person personalty. true or untrue they all involve around how he thinks and acts. it's his personality. it is hurting him now. the good news for christie it soz far away that he could overcome that but there's no doubt this definitely dinged any presidential chance he has at this point. >> jonathan we learned before the broadcast started that henry waxman, 20-term congressman from

california is going to call it quits. latest in a string of retirements for the lower chamber. what's your reaction? >> i think it's a sad day for progressives. this comes on the heels of the retirement of congressman george miller, another californian. they have been responsible for huge amounts of legislation over the last couple of decades that have really protected people all kinds of consumer protection legislation, education legislation. >> health care. >> health care. obviously they were central in working with nancy pelosi on health care. but the list goes on and on. all kinds of smaller programs that help people. women, infant children program, for instance. anybody who like wants to understand politics at a deeper level and get to know some of the figures who actually really changed this country, should take a look at the careers of henry waxman and george miller

and their decision to retire it kind of indicates that the democrats don't hold out a lot of hope of retaking the house so that they can get their committee chairmanships back. it's pretty clear that they realize they weren't going to be having the gavel and be the chairman again any time soon. >> jonathan always appreciate your insight. >> two of the three great panelists from the great state of south carolina. >> you're a south carolina guy too, craig. >> i know only time in history where 75% of the boxes are from the pal met to state. we of course continue to await the live speech from president obama at the ge gas plant in wauk sha wisconsin, as we go to break, take a look at this. super bowl boulevard, just a few blocks from here at 30 rock.

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all the calories. it's a very good reason to enjoy something sweet with the ones you love. think sugar, say splenda™ wñwñgñgñcñcñ.÷gñgñ.÷gñgñwñgñgñgñgñgñgñgñ.÷gñcñ.ñgñgñgñgñwñgñgñ.÷gñgñgñ.÷gñgñgñgñgñgñgñgñwñgñgñwñgñ.÷gñgñwñgñgñgñwñ.÷gwñgñgñgñgñgñ.÷cñgñgñgñgñwñgñgñgñgñwñgñ a live look at the plant in waukesha, wisconsin, any moment we are expecting president obama to take the stage. nbc's peter alexander as he frequently does traveling with the president today. i know we're expecting the president momentarily, so we may have to interrupt you. yesterday he focused on the minimum wage. what's on today's agenda? >> reporter: introduction is taking place right now so the president will be up momentarily. we are at one of these natural gas engine sites and this is a significant location for the president to make remarks today, sort of reinforcing his opportunity for all, where he'll

focus on taking a closer look at federal job training programs here at this ge natural gas engines place. they have programs in place that allow job shadowing and the white house says its focus is on what they describe as in demand jobs. described best by tom barrett who setd the problem is like ships passing in the night. you've got workers who are looking for jobs and employers who are looking for workers with the training that they need. the challenge obviously is to bring those two things together. notably absent is the waukesha mayor. he's not here because he says he thinks the governor of this state, the republican scott walker and president are as he describes it political extremists, not because of extreme positions but because the two sides haven't come together to get things done. it's exactly what the president is trying to accomplish today. to give you a sense of the limited nature of what he can expect by these executive actions today, he'll sign a memorandum on how to create

better job training programs but when it comes to one of the things he brought up in the state of the union, the minimum wage for new federal contract wort workers we heard from jay carney, when that goes into effect it will likely only impact a couple hundred thousand americans, more than 2 million americans who are federal contractors. so that gives a better sense to single handedly get things done. >> it's very interesting that the president decided to stop in waukesha as well. this best we can gather this is a republican strong hold. this is -- i'm going to shut up here and president obama is going to take the podium. peter, thank you so much for your service. peter alexander speaking in polite hushed tones there in waukesha. president obama as he frequently

doeses in these speeches no jacket sleeves rolled up. introduction wrapping up here. let's listen to the president of the united states. >> hello. good to be in wisconsin. good to be in waukesha. now, i've always appreciated the hospitality that packer country gives a bears fan. i mean i remember when i was up here campaigning, the first time and there were cheese heads for obama and i felt pretty good about that. neither of us feel that good about our seasons but that's okay. there's always next year. we have three of your outstanding elected officials with us here today. we've got congressman gwen

moore. [ applause ] >> we've got the mayor of milwaukee, tom barrett. [ applause ] >> and we have milwaukee county executive chris abela. and your former governor jim doyle. [ applause ] >> and it's also good to see -- i had a chance to see back stage somebody who was a huge part of my economic team before she became chancellor of the university of wisconsin madison, becky blank is here. we want to give becky a big round of applause. [ applause ] she says she missed washington but she doesn't really. she was just saying that to be nice. i'm so proud of reggie. and i'm grateful for the terrific introduction, i want to thank jim for showing me around the plant. i have come here to talk with

you about something that i spent a lot of time on in my state of the union address on tuesday. the idea that no matter who you are, if you are willing to work hard and take on responsibility you can get ahead. the idea of opportunity here in america, now, we're at a moment where businesses like ge have created 8 million new jobs over the past four years. and that's good news. our unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in more than five years. our deficits have been cut in half. housing is rebounding. manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. and we sell more of what we make here in america in other countries than we ever have before. today we learned in the second half of last year our economy grow by 3.7%. we still have more work to do

but that's pretty strong. and our businesses led the way. over the past year the private sector grew faster than any time in over a decade. and that's why i believe this can be a breakthrough year for america. after five years of hard work digging ourselves out of the worst recession our life times, we're now better positioned in the 21st century than any other country on earth. we've got all the ingredients we need to make sure that america thrives. and the question for folks in washington is whether they are going to help or whether they are going to hinder that progress. whether they are going to waste time creating new crises that slow things down or going to spend time creating more jobs and opportunity. and because the truth is and you know this in your own lives and you see it in your neighborhoods

and among your friends and family, even though the economy has been growing for four years, even though corporate profits have been doing well and stock misses have soared most folks wages haven't gone up in over a decade. the middle class has been taking it on the chin even before the financial crisis. too many americans working harder than ever just to get by let alone get ahead. then there are too many americans who still are out of work. here in wisconsin, and around the country. we've got to reverse shows trends if we're going to be serious about giving opportunity to everybody. that's why on tuesday i laid out some new steps we can take right now to speed up economic growth and strengthen the middle class and build ladders of opportunity into the middle class. some of the ideas i presented i'm going to need congress for.

but america cannot stand still and neither will i. so wherever i can take steps to expand opportunity, to help working families that's what i'm going to do with or without congress. [ applause ] i want to work with them but i can't wait for them. we've got too much work to do out there. because the defining project of our generation what we have to tackle right now and driven me throughout my presidency and what will drive me until i wave good-bye is making sure that we're restoring opportunity to every single person in america. now, this opportunity agenda that i put forward has four parts, first part is creating more new jobs. jobs in american manufacturing and american exports and american energy and american innovation. and by the way, this plant

represents all of those things. you've seen new jobs being built in part because we've had this amazing energy boom in this country. and the engines built here a lot of them are being utilized in that new energy production. we're exporting a whole bunch of these engines overseas. the manufacturing that's taking place here isn't just good for this plant. it has spillover effects throughout the economy. and, what's also true is that manufacturing jobs typically pay well. we want to encourage more of them. and there's also innovation going on in this plant. so the engines built 25 years ago aren't the same as the engines we're building today. so the first thing is let's create more new jobs. number two. we've got to train americans with the skills to fill those jobs. americans like reggie -- [ applause ] >> we've got to get them ready

to take those jobs. number three, we've got to guarantee every child access to a world class education because that's where the foundation starts for them as well. and number four we have to make sure hard work pays off. if you work hard you should be able to support a family. you may not end up being wildly rich but you should be able to pay your mortgage your car note, look at your family maybe take a vacation once in a while. especially when it's kind of cold. yeah. at the state of the union i was going to start off by saying the state of the union is cold but i decided that was not entirely

appropriate. so on tuesday i talked about what it will take to attract more good paying jobs to america. everything from changing our tax code so we're rewarding companies that invest in the united states instead of folks pashing profits overseas to produce more natural gas production. in this rampantly changing economy, we also have to make sure that folks can fill those jobs. that's why i'm here today. i know some folks in wisconsin can remember a time a few decades ago when finding a job in manufacturing wasn't hard at all. you basically wanted a job and showed up at the factory and you got hired. if you worked hard you could stay on the job. but our economy is changing. not all of today's good jobs need a four-year degree. but the ones that don't need a college degree do need some specialized training. we were looking at some of the equipment here it's $5 million

worth of equipment. ge is going to be a little nervous if they have to put you there on first day and say, here, run this thing. if you mess up you mess up. so that's a challenge for workers and challenge for companies who want to build things here and want to bring jobs back from overseas. as one of the top executives here put it brian white, if we're going to have a manufacturing base in this country, we've got to find a way to have manufacturing employees. now the good news is that folks across wisconsin have set out to do just that this plant is a great example of that that's why we're here in addition to just you seem like very nice people. but we're here because you're doing really good stuff that everybody else needs to pay attention to. together with a local high school you started a youth apprenticeship program.

they spend four days a day on the classroom and four hours on the shop floor and two years leave with a high school diploma and technical certificate. then you set up an adult apprenticeship program so that folks can earn while they learn. you're working with partners from the wisconsin regional training partnership to mayor barrett's manufacturing partnership, to more than 50 other employers, big and small across the region, in order to spot job openings months in advance and training programs specifically for the openings. and you even set up a skills to schools program to bring kids to factories and help inspire them to pursue careers in manufacturing. i want to make a quick comment on that. a lot of parents unfortunately, maybe when they saw a lot of manufacturing being offshore told your kids you don't want to go into the trades or

manufacturing because you'll lose your job. well the problem is that what happened -- a lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career but i promise you, folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree. nothing wrong with art history degree. i love art history. i don't want to get a bunch of e-mails from everybody. i'm just saying you can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four-year college education, as long as you get the skills and training that you need. [ applause ] so back to what you are doing, all of this work has paid off, one of the reasons why over the

past four years, you've grown your manufacturing workforce by nearly half. so what you're doing at this plant and across this region, can be a model for the country, which is would i've asked congress to fund more reliably proven programs that connect more ready to work americans with ready to be filled jobs. [ applause ] that's what we like to see from congress. >> of course, there are a lot of folks who do not have time to wait for congress. they need to learn new skills right now to get a new job right now. so that's why here today at ge i'm making it official vice president biden, a man who was raised on the value of hard work and is ten ashs is going to lead an across the board review of america's training programs.

we've got -- we've got a lot of programs but not all of them are doing what they should be doing to get people filled for jobs that exist right now. we've got to move away from what my labor secretary tom perez calls train and pray. you train workers first and hen hope they then hope they get a job. we can't do that. it cost money to train folks and a lot of times young people take out loans and they are getting into debt thinking they are trained for a job and suddenly there's no job there. what we need to do is look at where are the jobs and take a job driven approach to training and that's what you're doing here in wisconsin. we've got to start by figuring out which skills employers are looking for. then we've got to engage the entire community, help workers earn the skills they need to do the job that exists. and then we've got to make sure that we're continually following

up and upgrading things because companies are constantly shifting their needs. so what we're going to do is review all of federal job training programs soup to nuts and then we're also going to be supporting local ones. i've asked vice president biden and top officials in federal government to reach out to governors and mayors and business leaders and labor leaders and democratic and republican members of congress, let's find what programs are working best and let's duplicate them and expand them. later this year i'm going to ask tom perez, my secretary of labor, to apply those lessons as we conduct the next round of a national economycompetition, challenging community colleges to partner with local employers and natural industries to design job driven training programs. we're going to have at least one winner from every state. and we're going to invest $500 million in the partnerships that show the most potential.

we're putting real money behind this. [ applause ] >> we know we've got to start training our younger workers better, a workers' first job can set them on an upward trajectory to life. we should be something you're doing right here create more apprenticeship opportunities that put workers on a path to middle class. part of the problem for a lot of young people they don't know what's out there. if you've never worked on a plant floor, you don't know what's involved or what it is. if you don't have a dad or mom or uncle or somebody who gives you some sense of that you may not know how interesting the work is and how much you can advance. so while we redouble our efforts

to train today's workforce, we've got to make sure that we're doing everything we can to expand apprenticeships and i'm going to call on american companies all across the country, particularly manufacturers to set up more apprenticeship programs. we've got to make sure that once folks are through training and get a job, that the hard work pays off for every single american. >> i talked about this in my state of the union. you know, income wages have not gone up as fast as corporate profits and stock market have gone up. and that's a problem for the economy as a whole. if all of the gains are just at the top, ordinary folks aren't doing better and they are not shopping. they are not buying new cars and not buying new appliances and not buying the new home. and that depresses the entire economy when there's money in the pockets of ordinary folks, everybody does better including

businesses. today, women make up half of our workforce. they are making 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. that's wrong. who said that? that's wrong. that's wrong. it's an embarrassment. i mentioned on tuesday, women deserve equal pay for equal work. [ applause ] women deserve to have a baby without sacrificing their job and be able to get a day off when the kid gets sick. dads need that too. we've got to give women the opportunity -- every opportunity that she deserves. as i said on tuesday, when women succeed, america succeeds and by the way, when women succeed, men succeed. because, you know, i don't know about all of the guys here, but you know when michelle is doing

good and happy, i'm happy too. [ applause ] i'm just saying. but also just the economics of it because we now live in a -- in a society where if you got two bread winners that helps make ends meet. so if a woman is getting cheated, that's a family issue for the whole family. not just for her. now, women hold a majority of lower wage jobs but they are not the only ones getting stifled by stagnant wages. as americans we all understand some folks are going to make more money than others. and we don't actually envy their success. when they work hard they make a lot of money, that's great. michelle and i were talking, michelle's dad was blue collar worker worked at water filtration plant down in

chicago. mom was a secretary. my mom was a single mom. they never made a lot of money. they weren't worrying about what the rich and famous were doing. they weren't going around saying, i don't have a fur coat and ferrari. they wanted to make sure if they were working hard they could look after their family. and that's how i think most americans -- that's how we all feel. americans overwhelmingly agree, nobody who works full-time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. they shouldn't have to do it. so this is why i've been spending time talking about minimum wage. right now the federal minimum wage doesn't go as far as it did in 1950. we have seen states and cities raising their minimum wages on their own and i support the efforts, including one going on

in wisconsin. [ applause ] >> as a chief executive, i'm going to lead by example, i talked about this on tuesday, i'm going to issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay the federally funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. if you're a cook, or washing dishes for our troops on a base you shouldn't have to live in poverty. of course, to reach millions more people congress is going to need to catch up with the rest of the country. there's a bill in congress right now to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. it's easy to remember 1010. they should say yes to it give america a raise. making work pay means making access to health care that's there when you get sick. the affordable care act means nobody is going to get dropped from their insurance or denied coverage because of a

preexisting condition like back pain or asthma. can't be charged more if you're a woman. more americans are signing up for private health insurance every day. if you know somebody who isn't covered, the great thing about this shop is because of strong union leadership and ge is a great company, most of the folks who work here they've got good health insurance. but you've got friends, family members, maybe kids who are older than 26. because if they are younger than 26, they can stay on your plan thanks to the law we passed. if they don't have health insurance, sit them down and help them get covered at healthcare.gov by march 21st. these are going to help advance opportunity and restore economic security, more good jobs skills that keep you employed and savings that are portable and health care that's yours and can't be canceled or drops if you get sick. >> decent wage to make sure if

you're working hard it pays off. these are real practical achievable solutions to help shift the odds back in favor of more working families. that's what all of you represent. just like the americans who are on this stage. several of these folks graduated from one of your training programs, last year. as you heard reggie say, he feels like he won the super bowl of life. just like the real super bowl success requires teamwork. as they earn the skills that put them on the path to the middle class, reggie and folks in the middle class had to help each other out. sometimes if one slipped they had to come together and make sure that nobody missed a beat. that's the attitude it's going

to take for all of us to build the world's best trained workforce. that's the attitude it's going to take to restore opportunity for everybody who is willing to work hard. and it won't be easy. sometimes some folks will slip but if we come together and push forward, everybody as a team i'm confident we're going to succeed. we've seen it in wisconsin and we can make sure it happens all across the country. >> thank you. god bless you. god bless america. >> thank you. >> and there you have it president obama wrapping up a roughly 23-minute speech there in waukesha, wisconsin. hitting on a lot of the same themes he hit on during the state of the union address earlier, talking about opportunity, also spending a great deal of time there talking about retooling the job training -- the job training programs in this country, by saying he is going to be appointing vice president joe biden to spearhead an effort to

make sure we can make sure job training programs better match up with the needs of businesses around america. elizabeth plank is the executive social editor and rich benjamin a senior fellow at the think tank, welcome to both of you. you sat with me during the president's speech there. let me start with you, this is part of an effort that's become somewhat customariry for presidents as of late. they hit the road and take their message to the people of america, that's what we're seeing president obama do as he shakes the hands of some of the factory workers in waukesha. what did you make of the speech? >> craig, that's exactly what he does and the road is not washington and that's the point. he's fired up and ready to go making a different case. the words i kept hearing, work pay, work should pay and his economic policy isn't about charity, it's about making this country work for all of our

benefit. that was one of the wonderful takeaways i got from it. it's for everyone's benefit that wages be better and people be trained. he brought us all into the argument. >> it was also interesting, liz, to hear his tone. it seem as if he was off prompter when he was talking about his father-in-law, late father-in-law in talking about michelle's mother as well not being wealthy, blue collar workers and not being overly concerned with how much money other people had. it seemed as if the president was going out of his way to make sure the uber rich in this country understood this isn't about attacking your wealth and attacking success. >> right, he proved he can put his money where his mouth is. on tuesday night he said let's give america a raise. during the speech today he said there are too many people out of work and we need to put them to work. that's exactly what his federal training program is doing. it's not a coincidence that he want to this plant and went to

the state. he base beingally plabted a strategic flag that really -- in scott walker's backyard and show where he stands on union rights and jobs. >> i was mentioning this before we went to the president and he cut me off when i was make i my point. this is waukesha, wisconsin, a lot of folks may not know since 1980, it is voted for the republican on a presidential ballot. this is not just a republican strong hold but the strongest of strongholds for the gop in that state, paul ryan state as well telling chuck todd yesterday, specifically why it was that he was not in favor of the minimum wage. we heard the president there talk about once again raising the minimum wage in this country and mentioning a bill that is going to be introduced in congress. you would think that this is an issue, rich that raising the minimum wage would be an issue because we've all seen polling and know it polls well.

democrats and republicans both said this is something they support. why is this not a given? why aren't lawmakers in d.c. clammering to make the minimum wage ahead of the mid terms? >> the donor class, three words. i would totally think it's an issue, 76% of americans support raising the minimum wage. we have the donor class, never have we seen so much wealth and power concentrated in so few people's hands, the business lobby and restaurant lobby and it's all of these forces but the president is out on the road trying to change this dynamic. but i should point out, it is paul ryan country, scott walker country. but it's also tammy baldwin country and it's robert lafayette lafayette. they have a long progressive tradition, mixed bag there. >> one of the few purple states left in america. >> yeah. >> a big thanks to both of you, hope you come back when we have a little more time. that is going to do things -- do

it for me here. i'm craig melvin. we have just learned, by the way, that the governor of georgia is going to be holding a press conference on the storm there the messy aftermath as there. andrea mitchell will have that for you. before we go, we level you -- live shot of super bowl boulevard, times square just around the corner from here at 30 rock as the excitement builds, we continue to countdown to sunday's big game across the river in new jersey. i'll see you tomorrow. andrea mitchell's big game is right after this. u. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals antioxidants and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. [ ambient street noise ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ abe! get in! punch it! [

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avoided that? we can't control mother nature. just as we could not make better predictions neither could school superintendents. >> the mayor and the governor got on tv yesterday and said oh this wasn't expected and that's not true. we were talking about this monday, that this was going to happen. they took a gamble. >> paying the price. thousands of motorists stranded on the roads and thousands of their young children trapped at their schools. for one family a panicked delivery on side of the highway. >> my wife said we're not going to make it. it happened so fast i didn't have time to panic. >> the big cheese, the president in wisconsin today stressing clean energy at the ge natural gas engine plant. >> i remember when i was up here campaigning first time and there was cheese heads for obama and i felt