"nbc 10 @ issue" starts now. >> the iran nuclear deal. will it make america and its allies safer or will it make one of our enemies stronger? we'll hear from two local senators on different sides of the debate. tom carper and pennsylvania senator pat toomey. plus philadelphia public schools are set to begin a new academic year. the district's superintendent joins us to discuss the challenges in the year ahead. good morning. i'm tracy davidson. the iran nuclear deal is set to be voted on later this month. and it now seems the president has locked up the votes he needs to prevent the republican-controlled senate from blocking the controversial agreement. this past week, the center of the debate moved to philadelphia as secretary of state came to

the national constitution center to defend the deal. he says this is not about trust. it's about proof and inspections. kerry says the u.s. will not rule out military strikes if iran breaks it promise. he says the deal is a path to move away from the very dangerous spot we were in two years ago. >> as soon as we start the implementation, inspectors will be able to track iran's uranium as it is mined then milled, then turned into yellow cake, then into gas, and eventually into waste. >> israel is opposed to the deal, arguing that its conditions would keep iran depreciationly close to developing nuclear weapons while enriching a government that has funded anti-u.s. and anti-israel militants throughout the middle east. late last month, delaware senator tom carper announced he will support the deal with iran. he revealed that decision in an op-ed published by the delaware news journal. in it he wrote, quote, this is a good deal for america, our negotiating partners and the

world. that's not just my view, it's also the view of scores of american national security leaders and former senior officials as well as many of their israeli counterparts. senator carper is a democrat now serving his third term in the senate, and late last month he spoke with nbc 10's chris cato about his reasons for supporting the deal. >> welcome, senator tom carper. critics say america cannot trust iran. you yourself have said you have serious doubts about their government, and that this deal is based on mistrust. what do you mean by that? >> we -- i like to think that we can trust zarif, who is the secretary of state, finance minister for that country. i would like to think we can trust some of the other people we've been negotiating with directly. but we -- i sure don't trust the people in the government. i don't trust the revolutionary guard and some of the people that are hard-liners in that government. what we have to assume i think is that some point in time, our worst fears will be realized and these guys will try to do something towards developing a nuclear weapon and try to do it

covertly. and the question is are we smart enough, are we good enough with our allies, the israelis to catch them at it? i think we will be. what we have put in place is very intrusive inspection regimen. and i -- at the end of the day, they do this stuff, we catch them, what the u.s. can do literally by ourselves, we don't need anybody else to say yes, we can reimpose all these broad economic sanctions that have been in place that drove iranians to the bargaining table in the first place. if that doesn't do the trick, then we have other options still on the table. we haven't taken anything off the table. >> well, we all saw the celebrations this tehran when this deal was passed. new jersey senator robbed menendez, a fellow democrat is against the deal. he says this causes the u.s. to forfeit whatever leverage it has left. and he says that the status quo now is sustainable. how do you respond to that? >> i actually met with the representatives of telephone five countries we negotiated with on our side -- the brits, the french, the german, the

russians, the chinese and asked them, do you think we can get a better deal here? are you kidding? you would be foolish not to take the deal. and if we don't, if we don't, the idea that somehow we're going to be able to impose unilaterally sanctions on iran that will compel to make the concession we've done here when the whole rest of the world was leaning on them, we're kidding ourselves. this is a good deal. we ought to take it. at the end of the day, if the iranians cheat, we will catch them at it. if they won't stop cheating, we will reimpose all these economic sanction. put them back in place. what they have done is largely destroyed the iranian table. that's why they cale to the table all these years. if it's just us, it's not going to be. as painful, uncomfortable? yeah. but it's the rest of the world. when everybody else joined in with us putting the sanctions in place, that's what drove them to the table. >> at the end of an op-ed that you wrote in the delaware news journal, you said the most likely alternative to this deal is war with iran.

what do you mean by that? >> well, we -- if we decided -- and some people say we should just basically do that now. i would like to suggest -- i'm a vietnam veteran. i spent five years in war in southeast asia and 18 years as a mission commander to the end of the cold war. i know a little bit about war. and my own view is if that's something we can avoid and get the same result or a better result, i the old roman conquerors used to say the best victories, the victory is won without firing any shots. if you go back 36 years when the iranians ran over and took over our embassy in the midst of the iranian revolution, that was 36 years ago. today this is a country with 78 million people. the average age of the people in this country is 25 years of aiming. they never heard of the shah. the bad guy that we supported for all those years, was so cruel to the people in that country, they never heard of the guy. most iranians like the u.s. they would like to have a better relationship with us.

the revolutionary guard, some of the hard-liners, no. they think this is a bad deal. they don't want to do it. so it's kind of a situation where i think we need to try to take question or answer here. and the iranians need to take yes for an answer. and if it doesn't work out, they cheat, we'll catch them at it. >> senator come carper supporting the iran nuclear deal. now we wait and see what other members of congress vote to do once it comes up for a vote. thank you your time today. >> thank you, chris. joining was an opposing point of view is pennsylvania senator pat toomey. he is a republican serving his first term. he opposes the iran nuclear agreement. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> why do you think it's a bad deal? >> gosh, it's hard to though where to begin. it starts with the fact that i don't believe that the iranian regime actually intends to abandon their pursuit of nuclear weapons. they have been enormously hostile to the united states, extremely aggressive throughout the region. they've been extremely untrustworthy in other international and bilateral agreements.

and fundamentally, i don't think they want to give up this pursuit. so i think they're going to continue to pursue nuclear weapons. the program that they have is essentially sanctioned now by the united states and other countries. and maybe most disturbing of all, they get a huge, huge sum of money virtually immediately with which they will certainly use a large amount to continue to fund the terrorist organizations. and by the way, this agreement is almost certain to lead to nuclear proliferation throughout the region because countries like saudi arabia and egypt and maybe even turkey are not going to sit by while their archrival iran has a capability that they don't have. they'll make sure they match that. the agreement doesn't even address things like the intercontinental ballistic missiles that iran is developing. what purpose would they have for intercontinental ballistic missiles other than to put world cup soccer on the tips and deliver them to other states. when i look at all this, i'm

afraid it diminishes american security. it's a very dangerous agreement. >> senior diplomats of china, britain, france and germany say look, this is the best deal we're going to get and the alternative is war. but you they have is another option. >> absolutely. and it's the option i've argued with all along. it is crippling sanctions, which would wreak so much havoc with the iranian economy that there would be domestic unrest. and this isn't terribly implausible. in 2009 there was domestic unrest in iran. there were people marching in the streets of iran, protesting against the regime. and that's before we put the most intense sanctions in place. those kinds of sanctions and the resulting domestic unrest might lead the regime to decide that their hold on power is jeopardized by their pursuit of nuclear weapons, and they have to give it up. in a way, it would be comparable to the decision that was made by moammar gadhafi. a really bad guy who didn't become a good guy, but he did decide to give up his weapons of mass destruction program because

he was afraid he would be ousted from power, perhaps by the united states. but he came to a conclusion based on his perception of his self-interest, we need the iranian regime to reach that conclusion. and they haven't yet. >> those in favor of the deal say look, if we catch them cheating, then we have a lot of options. and you say not good enough. >> so let's just think about everything that this administration has told us. they said we have to have this deal because the alternative is war. if we catch the iranians cheating, and the administration threatens to reimpose sanction, iranians will say then we're out of here. we're out of the agreement. well, that's unacceptable to the administration, right? they've already made all kinds of concessions because it's unacceptable not to have a deal. why should we be willing to believe they'd be willing to put the sanctions back in place. keep in mind the deal allows iran to walk away from all commitments at any time for any reason with just 30 days' notice. it strikes as very implausible

that this administration is going to risk that by reimposing sanction, even if iran violates the agreement. >> you mention the security of the u.s. in a speech to the jewish federation of greater philadelphia, you said this deal makes it very, very difficult for israel to defend itself. tell me more about that. >> well, it creates a very, very high likelihood that iran will have nuclear weapons, and iran has repeatedly, adamantly insisted that it intends to wipe israel off the map. at some point we should take those threats seriously. meanwhile, the russians have said they're going to sell to iran very sophisticated anti-aircraft systems. which would be very difficult for the israelis to defeat by themselves. and so i think there is a reason that there is extremely broad consensus across the israeli public and both the public and the political establishment in issue in opposition to the agreement. and by the way, the israelis are famous for not agreeing amongst themselves on anything, but they agree on this, that this is a very dangerous agreement. >> this week it looks like the

president has enough support to push this through. so what is next? >> so first and foremost, let's see, right. until the votes are actually cast and actually counted, we don't know for sure. i hope we will have a very lengthy a lengthy thorough debate about this. i hope my fellow democrats will not fill bust their because frankly, thing is the most important issue that congress has dealt with since i've been in the senate, the five and a half years i've been there. i hope they won't block consideration of it. i hope we'll have a rebust debate. and then let's see where the vote ends up there. are other aspects that we'll have to address. for instance, the president says that he is willing to put sanctions back in place if iran violates. i'm skeptical. for that to be possible congress has to pass the legislation that reauthorizes the sanction. that legislation expires soon. and disturbingly, the president

doesn't seem to want us to pass even the reauthorization which would make it available in the event that there was a violation. we ought to have a debate than as well. >> all right. thank you so much for being here. senator pat toomey. >> thanks for having me. >> sure. still ahead this morning on "nbc 10 @ issue," philadelphia schools start their new academic year this week. coming up, we'll talk to the leader of the school district what is facing students, staff and administrators in the year ahead. >> this is "nbc 10 @ issue." 'm alex trebek. for over ten years now, i've been representing the colonial penn life insurance company. hi, everyone. i thought it would be interesting to hear from you what your customers say

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so call now. (easy listening music) ♪ this is "nbc 10 @ issue." >> this week school district of philadelphia students head back to class, and there are several challenges facing the school district as it heads into the academic year. and here to tell us more is dr. william hite. he is the superintendent of

school district philadelphia. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> you're excited about the new year? >> i am excited. and this year i'm more excited than nervous because there are things that we did not have to do this year that we had to do in the previous three years that i've been here like cut things and eliminate things and reduce things. so i'm excited this year that we're going in somewhat stable. >> but you still have a school funding issue in that the state budget hasn't passed yet. so what does that mean? >> yeah, so at the moment, we are -- schools are staffed the way they were staffed a year ago with a few exceptions. we hired a good number of new teachers this year, about 200 more teachers than we had the previous year. we have additional resources that are headed into schools. but we're starting the school year with a budget we ended with last year. but every principal has a list of things that if in fact we get a budget from harrisburg, then they will be able to add those things to their school. and those things are things like if someone has a nurse at a

school three days a week, they want the nurse to be at the school every day. a loft individuals are talking about people that manage and help with conflict resolution. other people are talking about technology and instructional materials. and all of these things, we cannot purchase yet, although we need those things, until the budget is resolved in harrisburg. the other difficulty with this is although we're going into the school year without talking about are we going to open. >> right. >> there is a question about how long can we stay open if in fact there is no budget resolution from harrisburg. >> what does that timetable look like? >> that timetable takes us through october, and then it gets a little hairy. we historically have almost a $413 million disbursement from the state between the time of july and september. that did not come this year. and so we're managing on the cash that's on hand at the district. and we will run out of that cash very quickly.

and so we go cash negative at some point if in fact a budget is not resolved in harrisburg. so we are nervous about that. we're excited about starting school, but we wonder how long we will be able to operate schools if there is no budget. >> let's talk about the standardized test. fewer students scored proficient or advanced on the test. i read this letter you sent home. look, there is a reason. don't panic so much. tell us about that. >> it's hard. this is the first assessment based on the new more rigorous standards with the p.a. core standards. and so it doesn't support an apples-to-ans comparison in previous years. ours mirrored the declines of schools across the commonwealth. we had work to do already. we didn't have enough children who were proficient in various areas. that still is the case.

but i don't want to -- i don't want to misrepresent the tremendous work that went in by teachers, by our students, by our staff members, and they were committed. they were passionate about this. i mean, so we have to take this in its proper context. this is a new baseline for us. we will work from here as we understand how do we create instructional practices, instructional protest that allow children to understand just the new assessment, and how do to go about taking a new assessment which was very different than the old one. >> very quickly, as you begin the new school year, you always have a message to parents. look, we have a lot of resources to help your student succeed. >> yeah. we have a lot of resources both in the district and a lot of resources that we're exposed to in the city. and so we have now many of the social service agencies,

behavior health, and all of those agencies that are at the city. we have those. we have access to those agencies through the district as well as resources like the free library, like recreation and parks. all of those resources are available. and if individuals are interested in after school programing or before school programing, they can contact the representative at their local school to find out more information. >> terrific. good luck with the opening of the school. >> we're excited. >> okay. thanks for being with us, dr. hite. >> thank you. still to come this morning as we get ready to celebrate labor day, see how a new exhibit here in philadelphia is remembering an influential figure in the labor movement. 6

this is "nbc 10 @ issue."

>> tomorrow is labor day, and a new exhibit in philadelphia celebrating the life of one labor activist. here to tell us more is the cocurator of workers of the world awaken, the life and legacy of joe hill, a new exhibit at the american swedish historical museum located in fdr park. welcome. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> those who don't know who joe hill, tell us. >> joe hill was born in 1879, and he emigrated to the united states when he was about 22. he worked a series of low wage grunt jobs, like a lot of immigrants at this time. and to get around all over north america, he hopped trains. and probably in doing that, he met members of a union, the industrial workers of the world, and he became a very active member. he was an organizer, a journalist. he did cartoons. and what he is most remembered for is songs that he wrote. so he wrote a lot of labor

anthems that propelled strikes and propelled workers' struggles in this time. and this year, 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of his execution. he was found guilty in what many people consider a frame-up trial. and because it was his membership in the union that caused mine owners and the government of utah to pursue him, the labor movement really holds him in our hearts and remembers him especially on this centennial of his execution. >> besides that, why was he so important? why did people listen to his message? what was his message that people clung to? >> well, his message was that workers are full human beings and deserve the full benefits of their labor. joe hill urged workers to organize. he wrote songs for unemployed

movements, for agricultural workers, miners, and these songs were sung as a way to knit together people in struggle. he had a really quick wit, and this exuberance in these rewritings of hymns and tin pan alley songs that he did. they were essential to building a cohesive movement at the turn of the century. >> well, i hope a lot of people visit the exhibit. it's called workers of the world awaken! the life and legacy of joe hill. it's not open and will remain on view through the summer of 2016 at the american swedish historical museum. it's in fdr park in south philly near the sports complex. we have posted a link and more information on nbc10.com and on our nbc 10 mobile app. still ahead, a look at some of the ways that you can save money tomorrow if you're looking to buy a car. >> this is "nbc 10 @ issue." ♪

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this is "nbc 10 @ issue." >> if you are in the market for a new car, tomorrow could be a good day to go shopping. edmunds.com says you will find the best deals on remaining 2015 models as automakers try to clear them out for the new 2016 vehicles. here are some of the deals. chevy volts will have the biggest discounts of up to $4,000. for a toyota prius, it's up to $3,000. and you can get up to $1500 off a bmw 3 series. the honda civic and the passat could be discounted by about a thousand dollars. that's it for this edition of "nbc 10 @ issue." remember, you can always keep up with the latest news on our nbc 10 news app. it's a free download from nbc10.com. i'm tracy davidson. thanks for joining us.

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