best-selling author and founder of the children's defense fund, marian wright edelman. i'm maria hinojosa. this is one on one. marian wright edelman, you're an american hero. it's such an honor to have you here. >> it's wonderful to be here with you. >> hinojosa: so we know that you are an expert on policy around children. i've known that for years. you've been doing this for four decades. >> forever. >> hinojosa: forever! but what i really want to start us out talking about is your life, because you have an extraordinary life. it's as if marian wright edelman has this forrest gump life. she was in these places, in extraordinary places, and every page you turn of your life story is like, "she was there, too?" i guess i'm not even sure where to start. south carolina, your parents are very hard-working, your mom is an organizer, but even when you were a kid in school in south carolina, you end up crossing paths with langston hughes. >> well, i've always felt so lucky to have been born who i was, where i was, with the parents i had. and at the time, i was born in the conve

social operations on defense funding for military programs in 2014. general james madison testified about troop levels in afghanistan. the threat of a nuclear iran. from the senate of armed services committee, this is about three hours. >> good morning, everybody. this morning's hearing is the first of the commanders to receive testimony on the military strategy and operational requirements in areas of responsibility. our witnesses are two extraordinary military leaders, commander of u.s. central command, and commander of u.s. special operations command. on behalf of our members, please pass along to the men and women serving our sincere gratitude for their dedication and their sacrifices. we also thank their families. their support is essential to the well-being of their loved ones and our nation. this is your third and last hearing before this committee. this committee has favorably reported your successor to the full senate. we want to thank you for your more than 40 years of military service and your distinguished leadership of our armed forces. t

it allows the defense department -- democrats might believe should be provided to domestic agencies. we're likely to see some questions as to whether funding flexibility should be allowed on the domestic side of the budget. >> why are those programs getting special consideration? >> they believed the defense department has taken some big hits in the last several years. republicans believe strongly that this part of the budget should be protected. when this package comes over to the senate side, it is very likely the senate democrats will rewrite the package so that the domestic part of the budget in joyce some of the same flexibility. -- enjoys some of the flexibility is. president obama, john boehner, everyone says they do not want a government shutdown. we do not want the government shut down so everybody agrees on that. it is not what they want and it seems like they have two choices. one would be to vote for it, expecting that it would be changed and the senate with the understanding that this is not the final package. or they could oppose it and say, this is not what we expected. looking at the bill right now and trying to assess both

united states constitution is about. >> that was debo adegbile, special counsel for the naacp legal defense funde court and it's an honor to have you with us now. welcome. >> great to be with you. >> now, of course, the big, big moment, the headline moment that came out of that justice ska lay yeah saying, is that a permanent racial entitlement? what would you say to him perhaps away from the court in a bar trying to get him to understand, like, i don't look at it that way? >> i think the reason the public response to that comment has been strong is because it flies in the face of our history, the constitution, and our common experience. everybody who looks at our history and common experience and the constitution itself knows that the voting rights act stands to take away focused racism that has been targeted at minority voters for many, many hundreds of years and the idea that we would stand down and try to paint a new world where the measures that are designed to remedy discrimination are somehow the source of the problem seems to be at odds with everything we understand about our history. >>

at the legal defense fund we're civil rights litigaters. we were founded by thurgood marshall in 1940. since 1963, we have worked side by side in the courts in the streets with the lawyers committee for civil rights. you know, you can alltel why you why youbara -- all tell want barbara on your side. if it is trying to get an african american woman considered to be the next supreme court justice -- [applause] ally. an we appreciate having her leadership. i want to talk about the future of the judiciary. teed up m's comments this brief discussion. we saw with the voting rights case that the supreme court heard a couple weeks ago. you know civil rights law are only as strong as the judges who enforce them. at the legal defense fund because of our litigation experience we get very much that who is on the court is very important. for years, for decades we have been involved in trying to monitor judicial appointment, making sure that judicial appointments are diverse and they are nominees that respect the progress we've made in civil rights. one

defense fund and you can see the issue of the day.mes we talk about what's pending in congress right now today. talking about the paycheck fairness act that we are trying to strengthen, the equal pay act that was passed. that is going on right now. at any given time we will -- judicial nomination and you are weighing in on the ground is the most important thing. right now congress is in recess and there is nothing like having a member get a visit from a constituent over recess in terms of wow you know, this is what my votes are about these issues. a trillion port and peered if you call the congressional office in washington but i say call your local office. they think the folks on the ground are really paying attention. [applause] >> a couple of things. three quick points to remember. racial progress is not linear. for every advance we make, there is a backlash and a pushback and a retrogression and the reality is that we can be making forward progress like having an african-american present in the white house but at the same time try

a few moments ago and the man on the stage behind us is a special counsel with the naacp legal defense fund. he argued alongside donald verilli, the u.s. solicitor general in front of the supreme court to uphold the reauthorization from thousand 6 for the voting rights act. the controversy is over one portion, section 5, which gives the federal government oversite. over election laws in several southern states, mississippi, louisiana, georgia, virginia, and localities in other parts of the country. now shelby county, alabama, brought this case before the justices to say those protections are no longer needed and the discriminations that were supposed to be eliminated by the voting rights act have ended. the solicitor general and the vice president say there has been a lot of progress. but those parts of the voting rights laws should stay intact. here's what he told the group a few moments ago. >> we still have a lot of work to do, easier than it was 48 years ago for one overwhelming reason. what we all did here 48 years ago changed the hearts and the minds of the vast majority of the americ

yesterday i spoke with one of the attorneys for the naacp defense fund and he is arguing this case in front of the supreme court along donald varrili. justice scalia said this amounts to racial entitlement. here's his response to that claim. >> from the perspective of a civil rights lawyer and an american it completely denies our history. for more than a century of persistent discrimination. discrimination that stood in the face of the constitution. it's an answer to promisess that went unkept for over 100 years. the voting act rights captures what is best in america. the idea that we should all be able to participate in the democracy. >> there were 98 senators in 2006 who voted to reauthorize the voting rights act of 1965, including joe biden and every senator from the states that it covers. so, that is the argument that justice kagan offered in response to what justice scalia said about it being a racial entitlement, brianna. >> bhawhat about those who say is no longer needed because race relations are improved since the law was first passed? >> that's what the mayor is making. thes

opportunity, this is an opportunity for us to address -- i know that gail works with the children's defense fund and she has recognized your leadership. joe. when we met with her about the issue of violence and the underlying causes of it, she said you really got to get the guns away. in other words we want to do more things at the same time. our colleagues on board at tucson and injured with gabby gifford, he's now a member of congress, he was injured. he worked for 30 years in the mental health community and then he was her assistant and now he's a member of congress. and he said, i had really -- and he represents sun country. he said, i had concluded after thinking through and listening that the only way to keep guns out of the hands of the resident assault magazines out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them is to keep them out of the hands of everyone, of everyone. (applause sxwrierx. >> we do have to address, and i think it's really important, it's a moral imperative to create jobs, moral imperative to reduce the disparity in income and equity and the rest and it's only getting wors

in the portman's don't get to decide what to put on the cutting board it's supposed to cut the defense fundingby ten percent now a lot of people think that the pentagon's humongous budget does need some serious trimming until now congress has been generally reluctant to do that in the pentagon's budget only grew but the sequester doesn't care what to cut so it's going to cut veterans support programs and other things that are going to hurt thousands of people in the military the cuts could also lead to the closing of hundreds of air control towers making it harder for planes to take off and land and reduce the number of border patrol agents would lead to delays at the ports of entry among other things also six hundred thousand women will lose assistance from the government's women infants and children program as a result of cuts to federal spending on local education ten thousand teachers and eight thousand other staff could lose their job again nationwide than this one the fact each and every state no except in no exception excuse me just a few examples i don't always think kentucky eleven th

chairman bill young has done a superb job in putting together a defense bill that at this level of funding for the defense department we determined yesterday from the military chiefs that the chief of staff of the army said by passing this bill today we will solve at least a third of the problems that the army would face as a result of the automatic spending cuts by funding it fiscal year 2013, when the cuts kick in, it's a far softer blow to the military than it would be if we were stuck at 2012 levels. . the chief of naval operations said the difference was night and tai. by passing this bill, it will cushion the blow on the navy dramatically. i look forward to working with my colleagues from all over the country and continue to work to soften the blow on the military but this is essential to make sure our men and women in uniform have everything they need to do their job. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves, the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: i would like to remind my colleagues that the defense bill will be subject to the $46 billion as a result of seq

in addition to all the aide that his administration's provided, including iron dome, including defense funding for israel during difficult times, he announced we're going to begin talks on another ten-year process, arrangements, to ensure american military assistance to israel. i think this is very significant and i want to express my thanks for everything that you have done, and i want to thank you, also, for that statement you just made. i think it's very, very important. so i think israelis will judge this by the unfolding events and by what is happening, what is taking place. and for this, you know, there's a simple answer to your question, the gentleman from nbc. you see a second term as president and third term at prime minister, that really fixes things. >> all right. thank you very much, everybody. [ applause ] >> shepard: president obama and prime minister netanyahu wrapping up their first news conference of this kind from jerusalem. live with us here in the united states this evening in israel. matters of news of the day first, and that applies specifically to syria. there were repor

. >> in addition to the aid, including the defense funding for israel in the difficult times, he has announceed we will begin talks on another ten year process or arrang arrangement to ensure american military assistance to israel. >> no progress announced in effort to revive a two-state solution for the israelis and the palestinians. asked what went wrong on that score in the first term, president obama called it a really har problem linkerring for six decades. even as he acknowledged, bret, there was as he put it host of thing he is could have done. >> he is meeting with the palestinians. >> tomorrow. >> drones again grab headlines in the u.s. senior u.s. official tells fox news the c.i.a. may relinquish operational control of devices over seas. there are concerns how it might be used inside the country. >> catherine herridge has specifics. >> congress is investigating whether they can blow up the privacy rights of every american. >> a great many of us, place included have deep concerns about the government collecting information on citizenry. >> we are trying to take a document in

he spent 14 yes at the naacp legal defense fund where he supervised the litigation throughout theountry that address matters of elementary and secondary education, a formative action in higher education, and equal educational opportunit he is also the reason why sarah was able to say such nice tings about me because he was my supervisor when i was there and taught me everything that i know. he will discuss issues of racial equality, growing rights and speeches in "the year of the turtle." our seco speaker is peter nicholas. he is a officer of lot the. -- at the university of washington school of law. prior to pursuing in the law, professor nicholas was a research economist at the university of michigan and served as a member of the ann arbor cy council. he will discuss the speeches and the current battles over gay rights, same-sex marriage, the gay minority and the gay minority in the leaders of the african american community. we have the professor of law at armored law school. before her ointment, she was a tenured professor at the university of pennsylvania law school. and she worked

we are joined by the council of the legal defense fund chairman cherilyn. >> is that a reasonable argumentt it is not more racist in the south? >> no, it is not a reasonable argument, and it is shocking to hear from the courtroom, because it is a one of the most es assee were sitting there as people there in alabama can tell you about the struggle there and how white power has tried to take control of the district for decades, so to hear that statement was shock iing. listening to you recount it hearing it here as i am at the foot of the edmond pettis bridge, the site of the march of 1965 made the statements more disturbing. john lewis got it right that it was a not a front. i wrote about it, and you ccan find my gap about it. there was a gasp when justice scalia made his comments, and it felt like a slap with a 1,500-page document that congress has concluded. it does not matter at the end of the day what chief roberts thinks is the nature of racial discrimination in 2013 or what justice scalia or jus ti sotomayor thinks, but the question is what did congress have and did they have a basis

i spoke with david, the special counsel to the naacp defense fund.e's confident when the majority opinion comes in from the supreme court, that it will be to uphold intact the voting rights act of 1965, and keep that authorization that was passed in 2006 through 2031. alina? >> victor blackwell for us in selma, alabama. victor, thank you very much. >>> a new day for the catholic church, with division in the ranks. the next pope faces a daunting task. even among nuns in the u.s. we'll have that next. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word... if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts... well muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour one on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour three. zyrtec®. love the air. >>> half past the hour now. let's look at the top headlines. >>> britain's queen elizabeth will probably spend the next two days

failure because of this but there were some policy achievements made the founder of the children's defense fund to get the era of many bureaucrats when it came to hunker issues and those looking for a more humane welfare system and every american should have a guaranteed income to not follow a certain standard of living they even had the seat at the table for the next administration which is hard to believe. the welfare rights had some voice in in 1969 and 70. a lot of it due to the poor people's campaign but it was not the little bighorn. the campaign takes up half of the book and the rest is a great conceptualization particularly among african-americans and i spend time looking at the civil-rights coalition and the farm workers who they had across the country and in particular in chicago not just land rights and around community control and in committee institutions huh and talk about the early rainbow coalition and this is before jesse jackson uses the term in the '80s so why doesn't matter? i was asked by my advisor and i asked my students know so what is the activism matter or the poor peo

richard denison is with the environmental defense fund. >> these delays have profound real world consequences. they allow continued exposure and harm to health from the subject chemicals. because decisions that provide on iris are also delayed. simply put a decision delayed his health protection denied. >> reporter: so why is the process so bogged down? the first clue comes from who showed up at the stakeholders meeting. >> my name is kathleen roberts, i am with the north american metals council. >> my name is kimberley squires, i am with the american chemistry council. >> my name is nina homa, i am with t.k. chemical. >> rick becker with the american chemistry council. >> nancy beck, american chemistry council. >> reporter: representatives of chemical manufacturers and their trade association, the american chemistry council, dominated the meeting and as the "newshour" and the center for public that chemical industry is close to the scientific review process as well. although john wise says he hand accepted any funding from industry in 15 years, two of his colleagues on the chromium six panel

special counsel to the naacp legal defense fund. he was arguing alongside the u.s. solicitor general. he will say what we're expecting the vice president to talk about today during a keynote address at a brunch before he crosses the edmund pettus bridge that the voting rights of 1965 should be continued as it's been reauthorized without being dismantled as the county in alabama is trying to take out one part of it. they are trying to have the supreme court overturn section 5 of the voting rights act, which gives the federal government the opportunity to negate or overturn elements of voting laws in certain states. alabama is one of them. here is what he said about a comment made by justice scalia calling that section racial entitlement. >> from the perspective of a civil rights lawyer and american, it completely denies our history. the voting rights act is a remedy for more than a century of persist endiscrimination. it's discrimination that stood in the face of the constitution. it's an answer to promises that went unkept for over 100 years. voting rights captures

addition to all of the aid that his administration has provided, including iron dome, including defense funding for israel during very difficult times, he has announced that we are going to begin talks on another ten-year process, arrangement, to ensure american military assistance to israel. i think this is very significant. and i want to express my thanks for everything that you have done and i want to thank you also for that statement you just made. i think it is very, very important. so i think israelis will judge this by the unfolding event and by what is happening. what is actually taking place. and for this, you know, there is a simple answer for your question. the gentlemen from nbc. see, a another term as president and another term as prime minister. that fixes things. >> thank you very much, everybody. >> president obama and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu just wrapping up their pros conference in jerusalem. let's get right to andrea mitchell who is there with more on what with we just heard. andrea, lots of ground covered today. >> a lot of ground covered. i think what you

there is the continuing resolution that will most likely make its way through the house to keep defense fundingoing. meanwhile, if republicans do want to choke off any forward motion for the president, isn't shutting down the government at the end of the month the best way to do it? >> well, it's certainly not going to help their position. remember, this is a congress that continues to have record low approval rating. voters continue to blame republicans more than the president for each new crisis that we have. and it's costing at the ballot box, it cost them at the polls and in the polls. it's not a good political strategy and it's a terrible strategy policy. if you look at what sequester cuts would do, if you look at what shotting the government would do, for almost a million women, mowers and children, we're talking about baby formula and newborns that are now going to suffer as a result of this brinksmanship in washington. >> how about they be primaried? >> probably so, but they already did that. .i think boehner's point was he wanted to see the president come his way a little bit. we game

>> our defense spending level reflects with the president's joints chiefs -- the presidents joint chiefs said is necessary to fund the mission of the pentagon. our first priority of the federal government is national defense. we are funding at levels that are necessary to maintain national security for the country. last one. >> last week you are talking about how the fiscal cliff deal and other improvements at the baseline major job easier in getting steps to balance the budget. what are those steps? >> we extend the budget control act discretionary caps out the last two years. we also wanted to extend our reforms on the public workforce, on federal employees, to include all federal employees at the end of the budget window so that there pension contributions match those are commensurate with the private sector. we don't think federal employees should be able to have pension systems that are so far in excess of what the private sector counterparts get. doing those things, combined with the baseline, makes it easier for us to balance the budget. we have always reduced the balance budget in the past -- we have alwa

washington has scrapped a key of its european missile defense shield citing a lack of funds and development problems the united states will deploy additional ground based missile interceptors on its pacific coast instead and what is said to

hoyer: while defense funding in this package is something i would like to vote for, it would continue to support the critical national security programs, portant in my district but more important than that, important in our country. if congress face tface every manner of manufactured crisis every other month, we cannot govern rationally and it will hurt our people, our economy, and our security. when dysfunction rusts the wheels of congress, it is the american people who suffer. our defense community and the industries will also suffer greatly from the uncertainty that result. i want to vote for appropriati bills that keep the promise we made to each other. i want to vote for appropriations bills that enable us to limit the negative impact of sequestration on our defense community and the most vulnerable in our society, but this c.r. does not do that. this vote will do nothing to lessen the effects of the see quester whose impact is already being felt -- sequester whose impact slr being felt in my district and throughout the country. that is what tells me to vote no on this c.r. i rep

legislation for that the way some apac officials explain it is that they want to maintain defense assistance funding averaging more than three billion dollars annually at a time when both parties are seeking ways to drastically cut spending so that could have gone unnoticed by the way the sequester that kicked in friday will hit israel funding something officials are saying among other things on those legislators do something to reverse it at this major strategic ally legislation is expected to be introduced in the house and in the senate in the coming days and separately be a part has been pushing and now welcomes the senate resolution of the says should this will decide to strike iran's only was would give all that supporting putting military while non-binding congressional resolutions don't directly make policy but this resolution could still build for a hawkish push against iran at a time when world powers are in made a go shooting boxes the u.s. intelligence community judges that iran has not made the political decision to create nuclear weapons and many fear that these constant constant threat

hoyer: while defense funding in this package is something i would like to vote for, it would continue to support the critical national security programs, important in my district but more important than that, important in our country. if congress face to face every manner of manufactured crisis every other month, we cannot govern rationally and it will hurt our people, our economy, and our security. when dysfunctionusts the wheels of congress, it is the american people who suffer. our defense community and the industries will also suffer greatly from the uncertainty that result. i want to vote for appropriation bills that keep the promise we made to each other. i want to vote for appropriations bills that enable us to limit the negative impact of sequestration on our defense community and the most vulnerable in our society, but this c.r. does not do that. this vote will do nothing to lessen the effects of the see quester whose impact is already being felt -- sequester whose impact slr being felt in my district and throughout the country. that is what tells me to vote no on this c.r. i

room but i think that it is important i am a former national board co-chair of the legal defense and education fund to say what is happening today is that two san francisco couples of the united states supreme court being represented in part by our city attorney and the san francisco national center for lesbian rights. and they are making the case for marriage equality. and i think that this is not the day that you want to look at that line of people and say, none of those people have arguments that deserve the merit of being able to research and be the possible next case that this city can take the leadership on. i think that you want to go a different direction, i think that it is what we deserve. i think that also the second thing that i would say and i only have three, you in this room are uniquely positioned to address the stunning crisis in access to legal services in the nation and in the state, and in the cut backs that we see at the courthouse, by doing this relatively small gesture, which is to increase the law library and then the last thing that i want to say about your budgetary respon

funding. there is a 2% cut in medicare and 5.1% cut in other non-exempt not defense -- non-defense discretionaryunding. tell us, how were these numbers are arrived at? guest: they were parts of the deal that came out in 2011. they came up with this piece of legislation where they said, if we cannot reach an agreement on how to deal with this in a year- and-a-half, we will have this thing called the sequester. sequester is an old term. they use it in the mid-1980's as a way to think about the deficit and the cuts never happened. the point was to think about making cuts to both sides so that everyone felt the pain. the numbers that were arrived at our part of this deal the way that to the legislative language of the 1980's. they just picked up that legislative language and put it in there. host: seek washington also requires reduction of 2% -- reductions of 2% to medicare. who -- the sequester requires a reduction of medicare of two%. who decided on 2%? guest: it was president obama's staff and people from house speaker john boehner's republican staffers. it is important to keep in mind that the m

fund the mission for the pentagon. this is our first priority -- national defense. we're funding at the levels the joint chiefs say is necessary to maintain national security. >> you're talking about how the fiscal cliff deal and other improvements major job easier, but you still have to take steps to get a balance. what are those steps? >> one is a budget control act. we extend the budget control act. we also want to extend reforms on the public workforce on federal employees to include all federal employees so that their pension contribution matches those that are in the private sector. we do not think federal employees should be able to have pension systems that are far in excess to what the private sector counterparts get. doing those things makes it easier to approach a bounce budget. we have always produced a budget in the past. it has taken a little bit of a longer time. we have got to close. that gets us closer to balancing the budget by the end of the budget window. now that we know it is easier to balance a budget, we should not drop the ball on balancing t