good afternoon, reiders, this is the reid report, joy reid. we have an action packed hour for you. general motors and those faulty ignition switches. senator barbara boxer quizzed the ceo today and finds outs what congress needs to do to protect consumers. >> the supreme court opened the door a little wider for big

spenders to influence our election, we'll explain. today is the day house republicans hold their umpteenth hearing. every single talking point that they have ever put forward in the attempt first to block and then to overturn the president's health care law essentially blew up in their face yesterday, after president obama and vice president obama took a victory lap to celebrate the aca's big day. with 7.1 million individuals signing up for private health insurance by the federal and state health exchanges and many more in line before open enrollment physically ended. it hasn't just beat expectations, expectations by the way that no one thought they could beat. it's left republicans

floundering for anything new to say about health care. >> obama care is continuing to wreak havoc on american families and small businesses. our job is to show the american people we have better solutions, when we have something to talk about, we'll show you. >> and there you have it, the gop bumper sticker for 2014, when we have something to talk about, we'll sheow you. republicans are now struggling for a message that says this thing that's with working really isn't working. in bloomberg view, supporters are right, that meeting a target of 7 million enrollments will make replacing and repealing the law harder. there now appear to be enough americans benefiting from obama care to make it much more difficult if not impossible for republicans to ever fully repeal the law. even more so when you count the millions more covered in the

medicaid expansion. it's just not the 7.1 million figure important, it's the million getting health care by expanded medicaid, and the millions more under 26 who can stay on their parents plans, and don't forget, the most underreported number of all, the ones skinning up for new insurance. it could be up to 9 million people. and so, after years of negative headlines about the law and after months of scrutiny about the rollout and the website and with polls now showing approval of the health care law steadily gaining, it now appears president obama may be having the last word on health care. >> many of the tall tales that have been told about this law have been debunked. there are still no death panels. armageddon has not arrived. instead, this law is helping millions of americans. and in the coming years, it will

help millions more. >> democratic senator barbara boxer of california will join us coming up in a moment. >> but first, let's get some news from the supreme court. hey, rich people, want to buy an election? how about a few of them? come on in, the water's fine. that's the gust of today's supreme court -- in response to a challenge brought by the republican party, an alabama businessman, shaun mccutchen, republican national committee chair praised today's ruling as, quote, an important first step toward when free speech is allowed to flourish, our democracy is stronger. house speaker john boehner had a similar reaction. >> what i think this means is freedom of speech is being upheld.

you all have the freedom to write what you want to write. donors have the freedom to give what they want to give. i'm all for freedom. congratulations. >> the ncaa responded with a statement that reads in part, this ruling givings millionaires and billionaires a tighter grip on our elections. this fight is not over. and joining me now to explain the details of today's ruling, nbc's new justice correspondent pete williams. pete, explain what in really means today. >> reporter: what it means is that you're right, you said it earlier, a specific individual can now give as much money as that individual wants to all candidates for federal office put together. the limit that was there of about 49 million is gone. here was the court's reasoning.

they said that since the 1970s, the supreme court has considered spending with free speech. so they said it's unconstitutional to limit how much speech a person can engage in. the justification for this law was it would limit corruption. i give you law, i give you a favor in return. under the old limit, a person could give the maximum to say, 10 candidates for congress but not 11 or 12. and the supreme court said there was no justification for that. the supreme court can no more limit how much a single person can spend to contribute to federal candidates than it could tell a newspaper how many candidates it can endorse in the paper. the liberals say that this misunderstands how it really works out there, that the court is going to make it easier for the big money to drown out

smaller americans, ordinary americans, further distorting the political process. >> my understanding is that one justice, clarence thomas, our old friend clarence thomas was the only one to strike down the individual limit of $29,000, right? >> reporter: this gets back to a mid 1970 decision when the supreme court said you can't limit how much candidates can spend, but you can limit how much a person can contribute because that could lead to corruption, he thinks that decision was wrong, he would overrule it, he would have the supreme court stay out of the business of regulating money and politics. for now, on what today's supreme court decision means for the future role of money and politics, i am very pleased to be joined by mr. and mrs. contributor heather mcgee. okay, heather, we now have essentially blown the cap on

what people can give in these elections, what does that mean pragmatically for our elections process? >> it means that in some ways the lights are going out a little bit dimmer on the grand experiment that is the grand democracy, so the first amendment is -- the entire constitution is actually in service of something pretty bold and hard to maintain which is a representative form of government. and point out how much the entire dominance of our politics of our wealthy people, millionaires and billionaires means our entire system is skews toward their -- one out of every three minutes they're caught talking to people that can write big checks. that means that the minimum wage, which the president is going to be talking about today don't get a fair hearing because there's research that shows that wealthy people are not in

support of a high minimum wage that would allow people to escape poverty. >> you have shown sort of the distorting effect of a small number of people and how much they're able to give. so that first chart here, it's showing what we call mccutchen money. and the black line there is projected donors with the cap and the blue is without the cap. so if you look you can see the big gulf between what people were able to give and what they weren't. we're talking about a very small number of people, if you look there, now the chart we're showing now is really looking at the giving to barack obama versus to mitt romney. and basically what the charts are saying is that a very small number of people are giving a substantial percentage and share of overall money that's flowing through these campaigns. >> we have a large donor dominated system. less than 1% have given in an amount over 2$200. when you look at what's going to

happen post mccutchen, we're going to see more and more big dollar donations. but it's important for us to not get into despair, there are things that can happen. we can still have a small system, a small donor matching financing, governor cuomo here in new york, actually had a chance to make history and give us a system of public financing and he punted the ball on that and that's really unfortunate. >> whenever you have this issue of public financing come up, it came up with the obama campaign in 08, you can't compete with someone who can afford to bundle you billions of dollars. >> what we have seen is that a small donor match system, like they have in connecticut, like they have in new york actually can be competitive. it's a voluntary system. it's particularly effective at the state and local level. but we could do something like this in congress. there's a new bill in congress

called the government by the people act. the provisions would basically mean, if i gave $50, which is not a lot. it would be matched 6 to 1. which would mean that my donation would -- there's a lot that actually can be done. so i want to leave people with a little bit of hope, even despite this decision today. >> i was feeling this morning like we had gone back to the mckinley era. you have given me hope. heather mcgee. ceo and president of dmos. >> congratulations on your show. >> great to have you here. >> now a quick update on two earthquakes over the past there hours. panama experienced a 5.1 magnitude quake today, there are no reports of injuries or damaging in panama. but the quake follows a much bigger one in chile yesterday. the president of chile declared a start zone after the quake

killed six people. the quake was so powerful, a tsunami warning was issued for the state of hawaii and it ended just a few minutes ago. >> obama care is here to stay, so . president obama pivots on his big push to raise the minimum wage. we'll have live coverage on msnbc coming up on "the cycle." here's a word you should keep in mind "unbiased". some brokerage firms are but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder. isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds". yikes!! then go to e*trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for you. e*trade. less for us, more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing. for a current prospectus visit www.etrade.com/mutualfunds.

>> will a big day for the nat n nation's health care law translate to a big win for democrats in november? so the big announcement yesterday that the affordable

care act has actually reached the 7.1 million signup milestone. how important was that for democrats who have been pretty nervous about the midterms? >> it's huge for the american people and the fact that the democrats passed this bill is going to be down to our benefit. everyone's focused on one number, 7.1 million, which is huge, that's the number who signed up on the exchanges who didn't have secure health care before, more affordable, now they have it. i think that number will go up. but we're not talking about medicaid, 4 million people got medicaid. we're not talking about the kids who could stay on their parents' policies that, that's 3 million. and 8 million senior citizens who fell into that doughnut hole are saving thousands of dollars, it turns into billions overall. this was a bill for everyone, they may not know it now, but if

you have private insurance, you get a lot of free benefits, immunizations, vaccines, cancer screenings, no more lifetime limits, no more annual lilts, no more preexisting conditions. so, joy, it's a great day, we were focused on that one number and that number came in at a beautiful place. >> you make a point and we have been making it on this show as well. you're talking about millions of people, probably 15 million people who are overall benefiting from the law. and some of your colleagues who are in red states, who have not been messaging on this law. are they going to rung affirmatively on the affordable care act? >> you know, each colleague will approach this as they will. but i will tell you, every one of them that are in red states are not only focused on the benefits that are coming to their states and have already come to their states, but they're focusing on their opponent and the fact that their

opponent voted against a bill that would allow kids to stay on their parents insurance, that would allow seniors to get help paying for their prescription drugs, i think it's going to play out very well in all of these states. seriously, in this bill, you're talking way more than 20 million americans. you're talking about 100 million americans that have private health insurance that now get those free benefits, that p prevepr preventive care, the more people get to know this law, the more they'll like the law, it's not dissimilar from medicare or social security, those were controversial. i can tell you, it's just a great day for the american people that people are listening and they're getting it now, my mother used to say when i was a little kid, without your health, you have nothing, and that was proven in my life many times.

>> i want to turn quickly with you to the gm hearing. i want to play the exchange you had with gm ceo mary barra as to whether gm ever ran a safety test. >> did you make that kind of calculation over at gm in this situation? >> i did not. >> do you know anybody who did make it? >> that is the purpose of the investigation. >> but you don't know now? you haven't asked and you don't know? >> senator, do u you feel that you' ee're getting satisfactory answers from the ceo of general motors? >> i was extremely disappointed in her. she just seems to be so reticent to put any opinion out there. and mine was just one of many questions. the fact is we have the document that we actually turned over to the house investigators. that say in 05, it was better to

do nothing. and she was saying i can't really say anything, i don't know. but if you look at her resume, joy, she has been with the company, over 33 years and held very important positions. she should have known she was involved with engineering, she was involved in safety. i don't buy it. i was extremely disappointed to put it mildly. >> and senator, do you foresee any remedies, any remedies in terms of law, in terms of legislation that could prevent this from happening in the future? i mean more than ten years gap between complaints of these problems and even reporting it as they're supposed to the federal agency. is there anything legislative you can foresee can be done to prevent this from happening again. >> absolutely. eddie markey has a good bill that he wrote with dick blumenthal, i believe. that when there's a complaint about some car that's sent to gm, they ought to make it

transparent, right now they keep it secret. she still opposes all the manufacturers oppose a bill that i wrote that would say you can no longer lease out a car or loan a car out that's under recall. there are many things that we can do. but i have to say this, and i think that chairman mccaskell brawli brought it out. in the private sector, these trial lawyers that dug in and found out the truth. they ought to be praised. lawyers are vilified so much. that lawyer on his own dime found out what went wrong. and there will be justice in the it courts and we will do our best do change the laws. >> senator barbara boxer, very good of you to be here, thank you. >> turning now to day 26 of the search for that missing malaysian airliner and still no sign of the plane. malaysian police say a criminal investigation is now focusinging on the pilot and co-pilot of the

aircraft. many passengers are cleared of any suspicion of wrong doing. mean while families of passengers met with high level malaysian officials today, the main message was this case may never be solved. a vampire trying to draw votes instead of drawing blood. we'll bring you the congressional candidate who's got you tweeting up a storm. >> it's time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. ray goodman is the owner of new york city's pump clothing boutique, its his relationship with customers, rock stars and fans that gives the store its edge over the competition. for more watch your business sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community,

that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. (agent) i understand. (dad) we've never sold a house before. (agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. (dad) so if we sell, do you think we can swing it? (agent) i have the numbers right here and based on the comps that i've found, the timing is perfect. ...there's a lot of buyers for a house like yours. (dad) that's good to know. (mom) i'm so excited.

coming up, we read between the lines on how with the develop of a mike, democrats turned a negative into a positive. but first, it's time for the stories you can't stop buzzing about on social media. when you think of popular vampires, you usually think of edward from "the twilight" movies. or "the vampire diaries." you can't stop talking about the revelations that the very conservative lawyer and former sheriff's deputy likes playing

the undead, under the stage name, chas darling. rush is blaming his incumbent for unearthing the unusual pass time. quote, as a practicing christian i am gaming and theater hobby and mischaracterize it. but many of you are calling his chas darling, the new carlos danger. look it up. dressing up for fun is one thing, but the army has new rules about how women can dress in combat have you battling online. monday, many of the hairstyles that black women use every day to make -- calling the new policy racial discrimination, a white house.gov petition has thousands of signatures seeking to reverse the rule. so black women need to shea their heads, basically. said another, what is the war on black girls and women's hair?

and this of course refers to two recent cases of girls being kicked out of school for wearing natural hair dos. a very contentious issue. but let's end on a positive note. willard scott has gotten married at a whopping 80 years old. tv's favorite weatherman has tied the norknot with his partn of seven years. i'm wearing this little blue pin today because it's world autism awareness day. please join in on the conversation with fellow readers on facebook, twitter, and instagram. if republicans are so poplar, they can win on health care, why are they doubling down on restricting access to the ballot box?

we'll discuss next. and tea part. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there.

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voting rights advocates won a huge victory yesterday. the scott administration's attempt to personal potentially eligible voters from the roles just two months before the republican state primaries was illegal. the state had originally tried to drop 11,000 voters that turned out -- 85 voters who were ultimately dropped. according to the "new york times," nine states have passed laws making it harder to vote since the beginning of last year. democrats are gearing up to fight back against this new wave of voting restrictions that are sweeping the country by turning the republicans tactics against them. the republicans will not just push back, but use the vote to go on the offense.

including court challenges, like the case in florida, an attempt to push new federal legislation and a national voter registration drive led by bill clinton. it's all a big drive to limit voting since republicans swept state houses in 2010 and got back up on the restrictions from the supreme court. all this begs the question, if the republicans are so confident about retaking the senate, making gains in the house, and holding on to their swing state governor ships, why where they trying so hard to stop people from voting? if the obama is going on the victory lap after enrollment sure passed -- just a half hour from now, the president will visit the vital -- joining me now to discuss all of this, is zack roth, national reporter.

zack, i'm going to start with you, because it was your story from which we were quoting. what are democrats doing differently in 2014 that they didn't do in 2010? >> well, they're being much more kind of candid and frank and partisan in terms of framing this issue of these voting restricti restrictions, they're saying in a very clear voice, there is a very clear difference between democrats and republicans on this issue. republicans want to restrict the vote in all these dimfferent wa you're talking about. there's a belief that that will motivate their base to turn out in a way that the democratic base hasn't turned out in the past. >> during election years, you have this great turnout among young people and -- it does fall back enough in midterms that they end up giving the advantage to republicans.

how are democrats using these issues, minimum wage, restrictions on voting and the affordable care act or are they using them in tandem to try to reverse that tide? >> i think you're seeing the democrats becoming much more confident. i do think that democrats have to have a comprehensive strategy and i don't think that strategy has fully formed yet. because while they're going to challenge all of these laws and all of these attempts at these laws, at the same time, if some of them do manage to get through, or not get appealed in time, or repealed in time, i should say, then the democrats need a strategy to make sure that, a, people know that the laws have changed. early voting is being restricted. people need to know what that time period is, so there needs to be an education component to this about what the states now require from you and that needs

to be early. ra and the other thing, it needs to be aggressive. so i think there needs to be another part of this strategy beyond just the push and the challenge. >> i want to show a map of just where this is happening. because republicans are working with number crunchers who say they have an 8 in 10 chance of taking back the senate. a lot of those are states are swing states where president obama did well. they are saying that the affordable care act guarantees them gains in the senate, guarantees them great results in states just like these, but this is where republicans are pushing the hardest to keep people out of the ballot box. >> i think what that reflects is, you say they shouldn't really be worried about it, because they are dependent increasingly on a shrinking base of white voters. so they're going to be looking to sue press the votes of

minori minorities, of students, of the democratic base. in 2012, they weren't nearly, as we said, they weren't nearly as clear about this issue. but many african-american leaders as you know, were very explicit about it and there's a lot of evidence that that motivated black voters to turn out at a greater rate than white voters. >> who were the people who are benefiting most from the minimum wage, you are talking about senior citizens, you are talking about minorities. republicans are essentially running in districts that are on average, 74% white, 11% hispanic, 8% african-american whereas democrats have an imperative to deal with these voter who is don't usually turn out. 23% hispanic, 27% black. so just in terms of the house races alone, it's critical that democrats get specifically to

the minority and to their younger co-horhorts and get the out? >> we have to be even more aggressive this time around than we have ever been. sometimes we miss the bolt, people not only don't vote as often in the midterm elections but they're not as engaged in the midterm election, that's where, again, this education piece, this media piece, these people around us are angry about these restrictions, we assume that everybody aware of these restrictions, and they are not. they are not plugged in. so getting beyond just our most ardent supporters, because this is what the democrats have on their side, people don't like to be restricted. >> very quickly, last word to you, zack, do you see evidence that democrats are running affirmatively on the affordable

care act? >> yeah. it varies from district to district, but there's definitely a number of them who are saying i'm supporting this law and it's helping a lot of people. >> all right, thank you very much. coming up next, back to benghazi, yet another hearing today. should congress be wasting tax dollars and countless hours to keep hammering the administration on the same points? that's coming up next. n. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

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to victoza or any of its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include swelling of face, lips, tongue or throat, fainting or dizziness, very rapid heartbeat, problems breathing or swallowing, severe rash or itching. tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. serious side effects may happen in people who take victoza including inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) which may be fatal. stop taking victoza and call your doctor right away if you have signs of pancreatitis, such as severe pain that will not go away in your abdomen or from your abdomen to your back, with or without vomiting. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. taking victoza with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, and headache. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. if your pill isn't giving you the control you need, ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza. it's covered by most health plans.

but when we put something in the ground, feed it, and care for it, don't we grow something more? we grow big celebrations, and personal victories. we grow new beginnings, and better endings. grand gestures, and perfect quiet. we grow escape, bragging rights, happier happy hours. so let's gro something greater with miracle-gro. what will you grow? share your story at miraclegro.com. the truth about benghazi is this. it was an horrific chapter in u.s. state department history. we should never forget the four americans who lost their line, doron chrall brave americans wh died in the service of their country. finding out who was behind the attack and why help us ensure that it never happens again.

republicans have been pursuing one benghazi investigation after another for 19 months, in at least 50 congressional hearings, they have asked the same questions over and over and over. that includes this hearing in the house select committee. former acting cia director michael morrell was called to the hill for a third time today. he testified about the now debunked theory that the benghazi talking points given to susan right rice soon after the attack were deliberatery doctored. >> we did not deliberately downplay the role of terrorists in the benghazi attack in our analysis or in the talking points. >> in response to a democratic inquiry, the pentagon now says that at least six congressional investigations of the benghazi disaster have cost americans an unspecified millions of dollars

a and thousands of hours of personnel time. here's the thing, the truth is already out there, there is no evidence of any kind of alleged cover-up, coercion or conspiracy and yet the investigations continuing. in 2016 a certain former secretary of state will be looking to kick off her presidential campaign. congressman adam smith, the ranking democrat on the house armed as much ass committee. last month, you asked the pentagon to estimate the cost of the countless benghazi investigations and based in part on that investigation, you're actually calling on republicans to end what you're calling a witch hunt, will you explain? >> the answer we got back is this has cost millions of dollars. all the questions were answered

well over a year ago. none of the charges the republicans have tried to bring about mall fees sans on the part of the -- they keep doing it for purely part -- we need to talk to the department of defense about what happened. and we did. and we got answers. there was never any effort to cover it up. that has been handled. now what the republicans are doing on multiple committees, all driven by the partisan desires of their leadership is in fact a witch hunt, they want to find something to blame the obama administration about on this, even though there's nothing there. it has an incredibly corps row sif affect on what -- it loses it's credibility and that's clearly happened in this case. >> and to your point about partisanship, i want to play you something that one of your colleagues, michele bachmann,

congresswoman bachmann, the exchange that he had with michael morrell, take a listen. >> everyone on this committee, both sides of the aisle knows that the global war on terror was not over. how weird that that ultimately was reflected in the talking points against all knowledge from people on the ground and knowledge this committee had. that's why we're upset. because the american people from my perspective, were intentionally misled by this administration as to what happened in benghazi. >> let me actually give you the facts of what the state department changed in those talking points and what the white house changed. the white house changed three things. >> congressman, what do you think drives that kind of sort of passionate response on the part of a congresswoman like michele bachmann who seems just certain that there is some sort

of nefarious conduct here. on what could she be basing that? >> it's hard to speculate on the perspective of michele bachmann, to begin with, her entire premise is flawed. nobody ever said that the war against al qaeda and the war against violent extremist groups. nobody. the senior leadership, the folks in afghanistan and pakistan, the folks who perpetrated 9/11, everybody said the gbigger problem is that the theology of al qaeda has spread to other groups. so her entire premise is -- nobody ever said the global war on terror is open. that absolutely never happened. so the premise is wrong, and what drives them is a desire to partisanly embarrass the president.

>> and meanwhile, sir, what's happened in a letter to the house oversight committee by some of your democratic colleagues sort of points out is that the other skorl of fall kuwait is here that they keep going down these conspiracy theory lanes, that turn out to be wrong. so you wind up spending money investigating the claims and those too lead nowhere. >> and they just restate the claim and we have to start the process all over again. one of the things they haven't done much of, is actually looked at how al qaeda in their ideology has metastasized, who are these groups in lib yarks in somali and other places, how do they fit into the larger hole? who were the groups who came together to attack us? by the way, not just in benghazi, but there were a whole bunch of groups that led riots in a whole bunch of other countries. that's the investigation we should be doing, trying to

figure out who our enemies are now, how they have changed since 9/11 and how we can best combat them. but that's just logical policy making, that's not demonizing the administration. they want to demonize the administration, not logical policy making and i think that places us at greater risk. i hope we will finally be done with this and we will finally be done with issues that genuinely affects. all right, next, we'll read between the lines on president obama's health care triumph and why republicans with working to hard against it. and at the top of the hour, president obama will make his push for raising the minimum wage in michigan. keep it right here on msnbc for live coverage. gas at the same location.

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president obama's in michigan today to give a speech on raising the minimum wage. he's going to kick off the push for the us house here's the president of the united states. >> hello, michigan. man, this is a good looking crowd. just happened to be out of class. i'm sure that's not true. i'm sure these are all outstanding students. good to see you. first of all, give a mira a big round of applause for the grand introduction.

i want to say thanks to your president mary sue coleman for her years of outstanding her leadership. we got a few other michigan leaders who are here today. we got congressman john conyers. we got congressman garry peters. we got your mayor. former congressman mark shara. your congressman, the legendary john dingle could not make it, but his wife debbie is here, give her a big round of applause. now most importantly, i know to all of you, we have got some wolverines in the house here. we have got glenn robinson iii.

we have got jordan morgan. we got big ten player of the year nick vasquez and we have got quarterback devin gardner. these guys were outstanding this year. give a bigger round of applause than that. you guys had a great run. that last game was as good a game we have stein this entire season. if you had had five more seconds it would have been helpful but i want to congratulate the coach, coach beeline and the team for a great season.

and, you know, i understand that jordan wanted me to talk about my bracket. my bracket's a mess. i have learned my lesson, i will not pick against the wolverines. that's what happened. that's the problem with doing the brackets, people just trash talk you nonstop. it's terrible. and, you know, i think it's worth mentioning, i want to congratulate jordan for playing more games in michigan than any other player in history, not only earning an undergraduate degree in engineering, pickup sui s pursuing a graduate degree in engineering too, that's the kind of student we're talking about.

now, do some of you guys got chairs? because if you got chairs, feel free to sit down. because if you don't, don't sit down, because i don't want you getting hurt. before i came here today, i stopped at zingerman's, which is the right thing to do when you're in ann arbor. i stopped for two reasons. the first is, the ruben is killer. so i ordered like the small, and it didn't look that small. so i gave half to valerie jarrett who's traveling with us. and then after i finished the half, i wanted the halfback. but it was too late. all she had left was the pickle. so i took the pickle. but -- so one of the reasons i

went was because sandwiches are outstanding. the second reason, though, zingerman's is a business that treats its workers well and rewards honest work with honest wages. and that's worth celebrating. and that's what i'm here to talk about today. how do we rebuild an economy that creates jobs and opportunities for every american? and i want to focus on something a lot of people in michigan are working very hard to accomplish right now, and that is raising the minimum wage to help more folks get ahead. now, here's the context. our economy is doing better. it's growing, our businesses are creating jobs. 8.7 million new jobs over the past four years.

our manufacturing sector, which had been losing jobs throughout the '90s and throughout the -- what do you call it, oughts? the 2000s to 2010. but manufacturing had been losing jobs. about a third of manufacturing had lost and obviously that hit michigan really hard. but we're now seeing the manufacturing sector add jobs for the first time since the 1990s. so that is good news, the housing market is recovering, obviously the stock market has recovered, which means that people's 401(k)s if they have them, are doing much better. troops, they've been fighting two wars, are coming home. we just went through the first month since 2003 where no u.s.

soldier was killed in either afghanistan or iraq. today you've got companies looking to invest in the u.s. instead of sending jobs overseas. they want to create more jobs and invest right here in the united states. we're more competitive, we're more productive. and by the way, 7.1 million americans have now signed up for coverage through the affordable care act, otherwise known as obama care. that's a lot of people, 7.1 million. that's enough to fill up the big house 65 times. and by the way, that doesn't count the more than 3 million

young people who have been able to stay on their parents' plans. so we have seniors here who graduate and it may take a couple of months s ts to find or you're doing an internship or something that does not provide health care, you're going to be cover until you get that job that actually provides health insurance. so it provides the kind of protection you need. so that's the good news. we fought back from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, we have laid the foundation for america's future growth. but here's the problem. there's been a long-term trend that has really been hitting middle class folks and folks trying to get into the middle class and that's been going on since before most of you were born. the economy increasingly has folks at the top doing really