we are joined by tom harkin. welcome. we are joined by tom harkin. welcome. thank you for being here. two reporters to help us with questions. lisa mascaro who covers the tribune newspapers and fawn johnson, a correspondent with "national journal." >> let's start with the minimum wage increase. this is a big deal for the democrats. expected to be a big deal in the campaign. right from the beginning, you have drawn a hard-line, thank you do not want to negotiate the rate that you have proposed over three years, $10.10 per hour. can you tell us why? >> it is not just a big deal for democrats. it is a big deal for millions of people. 80% of the people we are talking about that will get a raise our adults. 54% are parents of kids. over half of them bring at least half the family income.

unemployment extension germans -- insurance extension. >> you can watch the entire interview with tom harkin, chair of the health education labor and mentioned kitty -- pensions committee. >> what we are told both the students and as a nation in terms of the popular imagination is there are all kinds of siddons and demonstrations and marches that occur. they are done by these famous, iconic people. rosa parks who was so tired that she refused to get up from the bus and sparked the bus boycott. a young preacher who the president referred to as a young preacher from georgia. dr. martin luther king jr.. of africane masses americans from racial oppression. this idea that rosa sat and martin could do this stuff and jesse could run and barack could fly, they sound good but they simplify a much more public it is history you read -- a much more complicated history. it involves women and men who dismantled segregation. rosa parks was an activist. herdidn't refuse to give up seat by accident. it was a concerted strategic effort to transform democratic institutions. >> he specializes in the subfield of

so it's time for congress to get behind the minimum wage bill offered by tom harkin of iowa and congressman george miller of california -- the proposal that would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. so ask your representatives who oppose raising the federal minimum wage -- why do they oppose it? how can we look at the men and women providing basic services to us all, like cleaning our offices, caring for our children, serving in our restaurants and so many other areas -- how can we say they don't deserve enough pay to take them out of poverty? the president and i think they deserve it. and we think a lot of you do too. so, folks, it's time to act. it's time to give america a raise. thanks for listening and have a great weekend. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. >> good morning, i am jackie walorski. i support the community act as a member of the veterans affairs committee and a presumptive voter. we need a common sense bill. without this real-world accountability, the v.a. has become the epitome of the bureaucracy. i hear every day from veter

entirecan watch in the interview with democratic senator tom harkin on sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on c-span. told both ase students and as a nation in terms of popular imagination that there are all kind of sit in's and marches and demonstrations that occurred, but by the famous iconic people. basically rosa parks, who was so tired that she refused to get up from the bus in montgomery, alabama and sparked the boycott and a young preacher who even the president referred to during the election as a young preacher from georgia who is dr. martin luther king jr.. he leaves the masses of african americans from a racial oppression. the notion of that rosa sat and martin could do this and jesse could run and barack could fly. all of these things, they sound good, but they really simplify a much more kabul k history. it really involves so many african-americans, women and men, who proactively dismantled racial segregation including rosa parks. she was an activist. she did not just refuse to give a her seat by accident. it was a concerted, strategic effort to transform institu

our guest this week is tom harkin, who is stepping down at the end of this year. he is the chair of the health, education, labor, and pensions committee. the discussion on minimum wage was scuttled. here is where he thinks things stand. [video clip] the president himself endorsed a lower minimum wage increase, up to nine dollars per hour. states looked at the same thing. do you have universal support in your party to go all the way to $10.10, to actually put it on the floor? >> i do not know that anything has universal support in this town. in our party, and we have nearly universal support for this. in our own caucus, that a lot of people said that was too much of an increase. the last increases work. we do it over three years. it is just above the poverty line. anything less than that locks in. especially if we want to index it. it locks you in forever. people think about that and say they do not want to do that. we want to keep people above the poverty line. host: tom harkin is the guest on "newsmakers" at 10:00. it also will re-air at 6:00. we will bring you u

nomination in the race to replace outgoing tom harkin.our morning dish of scrambled politics. >>> joining us from our nation's capitol is the washington post ken o'kieffe to talk about politics today. proo good morning. >> i want to talk about the president yesterday. he really cut to the chase in a news conference saying while russia's actions in ukraine -- they won't -- he is more concerned with the prospect of a weapon going off in maent may not. that's chilling for those feeling secure since did it 3. >> it is, but that was the whole point of his conversation with world leaders at the hague yesterday. they actually sat through some drills of what would happen if a dirty bomb went off in a major city to try to illustrate what exactly the response would look like and to remind these leaders that the world does have to work on making sure that the weapons are secure. that was the point of yesterday's meeting. today, of course, is in brussels meeting with g7 leaders and meeting with nato. >> the president may also want to be concerned, ed

president, i was very interested in listening to both my colleagues, tom harkin, who i thought was very, very passionate about the need to understand that when people do pro bono work, as justice roberts did, or they work for an organization, as our nominee did, that is making the case that a jury was perhaps tainted, that that not be used against them. i think he was passionate. i think senator collins makes a good point. i do want to say that she's totally right. the i.r.s. should never ever, ever be used politically. and we have gone through that in our lifetime, and it's absolutely wrong. so i agree with that. but i also want to point out that any organization that is taking big tax deductions that cost people money but they're really political, whether they're on the left, the right, or the center, they have to stop what they're doing too. so i think she points out that it's a careful balance. we also don't want members of congress to intimidate the i.r.s.. that's wrong. you know, and harass them. so it is a very careful balance. i'm looking forward to looking at her bill to see if

senator tom harkin of iowa and i are working on a bill that we'll introduce next week to ensure that the agencies that are currently investigating all of these for-profit schools are coordinating their efforts. he and i teamed up on this issue a long time ago. it's going to be a shame when senator harkin retires from the senate this year. but the for-profit schools should know that the spotlight which tom harkin turned on with his committee hearings is going to continue even after he leaves. an industry that receives more than $25 billion in federal dollars and has such a terrible record needs aggressive oversight. we just don't owe it to the taxpayers who are coming up with $25 billion for these schools. we owe it to the students who are lured into these schools, lured into debt and end up many times with nothing to show for it. you need to keep three numbers in mind when you think about the for-profit colleges and universities, and i always warn people these three numbers will be on the final so listen closely. 10% of the students who graduate from high school go to for-profit coll

but she is looking to stand out, replace tom harkin in the senate, and actually serves our country.ed in iraq and is still active. she has a lot of positive qualities and we know she is resourceful. >> every expert now believes in this consensus, this will be a referendum on obama, and especially obamacare, 41% approval rating, 59% disapproval rating, been as 38 in the fox news poll. what do you tell your democratic friends, especially red state democrats running for the senate? >> they're in trouble, no getting away from it. the abc poll out today, the generic matchup. the house of representatives, something like 46, 45, for the senate it is a hoojs gap favoring republicans. and it is because you have -- looking at the states, the specific states they're running in. they start off favoring republicans already. and then a lot of these states -- there is a referendum on obamacare. >> i always felt you were a very intellectually honest democrat, even though you beat me up on occasion. but should democrats now just say it didn't work? 29 delays, four years later, it was never popular a

. >> iowa senator tom harkin responding to what i called a shameful despicable day in the u.s.when the entire republican caucus joined by seven democrats, those seven there voted down the president's nominee to head up the justice department's civil rights division, debo adegbile. now, if you haven't been watching fox news, or reading conservative media, this all came out of nowhere. odds are, you had no idea who debo adegbile was until yesterday. let me tell you something. fox viewers sure did because for the last month, they've been beating the drum on the scary, scary black man that debo adegbile's organization once represented. >> coming up, he defended a cop killer. >> international crusade to free a cop killer. >> a non-repentant cop killer. >> voluntarily defending a convicted cop killer. >> an unrepentant cop killer. >> one of the most storied cop killers in american history. >> in fact, if you've within watching fox news with the sound turned off, you may have even thought debo adegbile was, in fact, that man you see there, because so often when they talked about adegb

. >> on this weekend's newsmakers iowa senator tom harkin talks about the debating congress over raising the minimum wage. the democratic lawmaker, the chair of the health education labor and tension committee and the author of a bill that would set the minimum wage at $10.10 an hour. you can watch the interview at 10:00 a.m. and again at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> the new c-span.org web site makes it easier than ever to keep tabs on washington d.c. and share your find on facebook, twitter and other social networks. easy search functions let you access daily coverage of events, new tools make it simple to create short video clips and share them with your friends on facebook, twitter and other social networks or you can send links to your video clips on e-mail, find the share tools on our video player or look for the green icon links throughout our site. watch washington on the new c-span.org. if you see something of interest clipped it and share it with your friends. >> c-span2 providing live coverage of the u.s. senate floor proceedings and keep public policy events and every weeke

senator tom harkin was quoted as saying we're not just going to walk away after one vote.important for that. dana, that could be very critical in this election year to put republicans on the record over and over again about minimum wage while you are running around, trying to get the support of billionaires to bankroll your campaigns. >> right. i was over at the conservative heritage foundation today, they there were labor and other groups picketing there for the minimum wage vote in the senate. i think the democrats and their allies have to keep on doing this. they may be outgunned in terms of the big money that is going into the political system. but they have to keep setting up the contrast even if they lose the fight on unemployment insurance, on immigration, on the minimum wage. they have to keep saying here is our agenda. here is who we're for, even if they're not prevailing on it. >> joan walsh and dana milbank, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >>> still ahead, a wealthy man gets probation for raping his own daughter. and critics say it cou

senator tom harkin shares the health, education, labor, and pensions committee. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, the hearing on health, labor, education, and pensions comes to order. we examined the initiatives undertaken by the agency like several significant reforms passed over the committee over the last few years. our nation faces a variety of public health chmgs in the early part of the 21st century, rapid changes on where products are made, how they are made, and where our food comes from. there's major innovation with treatments that save lives, more diversified foot supply, and these dynamics prented prisks and greater challenges for regulatory oversight. the health committee addressed many of the challenges in recent years, and approving the things that can still get done in washington. i want to thank ranking member al exander for being a great partner and all members on this committee and staffs. we worked together in a collaborative and bipartisan matter to address the public health issues heads on. i want to summarize a few that we have. la

confidence [inaudible] discussion [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> on newsmakers, iowa senator tom harkin talks about the debate over raising the minimum wage. the chair-at the health, education and labor committee, and the author of the bill that would set the minimum wage at 10.10 an hour. >> in december of '41 and almost immediately people start talking about what is to be done with the enemy alien population, which includes germans and japanese and italian foreign nationals who are enemy aliens. so the japanese-american population in general on the west coast, they were rounded up en masse and had to leave their homes of they lived in what was called the western defense zone. so they were forced to leave and put in camps surrounded by barbed wire and were not charms with anything. west coast nonjapanese americans, most newspapers strongly supported the removal of japanese-americans. a very popular policy. the civil rights organizations which were largely based back east didn't pay much attention to it. in all of the major jewish newspapers on the west coast there were weeklies with ed

i want to thank senators barbara mikulski and tom harkin who have been champions for children and working americans for all the work they put in this bill. i also want to thank senator richard burr on the other side of the aisle and lamar alexander as well for making this a true bipartisan effort. i hope my colleagues will join me today when this bill comes up for a vote. this is the kind of bipartisan bill which we all should support. working moms and dads need the peace of mind of knowing that their kids are in a safe place that will help their children develop in the right way. mr. president, i ask this following statement be placed in a separate part in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: also december, i spoke about a news article that revealed another disturbing scamper pet waited by the for-profit college industry. -- perpetuated by the for-profit college industry. the article reported that corinthian colleges, a publicly traded corporation, that owns for-profit schools in the united states and canada, has engaged in deceptive job placement practices i

here is texas senator ted cruz talking about his opposition to the nomination of followed by tom harkin after the measure was defeated. the comments are about 20 minutes. >> mr. president, i rise today to a tribute to the minute women of the country serving as lease officers who protect law-abiding americans. it is out of this respect for our nations lease officers that i also rise to oppose the adebola.n of dabo remember our phone police officers who have bravely given their lives to serve our nation and kept us in police officers helped form the back of our country that supports the rule all. they risk their lives everyday to keep law-abiding americans safe. 2012,ing to the fbi, in 95 law enforcement officers were killed in line of duty incidents. officers were victims of line of duty assaults. 52,901. the new york times in 2012 as violent crimes have increased across the country, a disturbing trend has emerged. rising numbers of police officers being killed." in 2008, 41 officers were killed. 41. in 2009, 40 officers were killed. in 2010, 56 officers were killed. in 2011, 72 officers

followed by tom harkin on newsmakers with a look at the minimum wage and 2014 midterm elections. then bob corker speaks to reporters at the christian science monitor breakfast. later, a hearing on military sexual assault, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicide. told, both as students and a nation, in terms of imagination, is that there are all kinds of marches and demonstrations that occur. they are really done by these famous, iconic people. arks was so tired that she refused to get up from the bus in montgomery, alabama and sparked a bus boycott. a young preacher, who even the president referred to during the election as a young preacher from georgia, which was dr. martin luther king jr.. he let african-americans from racial oppression. rtin --theynd ma could do this stuff and barack could fly. they sound good, but they simplify a more complicated history. really involves so many african-americans, women and men, who proactively dismantled racial segregation. including rosa parks. she did not just refused to give up her seat by accident. it was a concerted, strategic effort

. >> democratic senator tom harkin of iowa talk about the vote on the justice department nomination for ten minutes. >> earlier today of the vote was taken in the united states senate that to this center marked about the lowest point that i think this senate has descended to in my 30 years your . i'd don't say that lightly. i was here during the impeachment process, trial for president clinton. i kind of thought that was a sham. but that did not compare to what happened to them. the vote, on debo adegbilie to be assistant attorney general of civil rights said a strong message. here is the message we sent to that, young people listen up. if you are i young white persons and go to work for law firms your lawyer sworn into the bark and go to work for a law firm, young white person. and that law firm assigns you to a pro bono case to defend someone who killed eight people in cold blood. and they as i knew to defend that person. my advice from what happened today is you should do that. it is part of the legal obligation, part of your profession. so because if you do that hanover someone, you

points we have not touched on was senator marco rubio who was on the floor and gave a speech about tom harkinlk to us about his foreign-policy and what you see there. if there is one republican that would benefit from a renewed forecast on foreign-policy, it would be marco rubio who did not have a good issue with 2013 that has really found his footing and voice when it comes to talking about foreign-policy. an interventionist tone with his comments. he spoke a few weeks ago and was one of the few twos focus -- to focus on foreign-policy is the theme of his speech. did not get a great reception with conservatives in the room but registered with the broader atte am especially looking the 2013 election. he is one of the few candidates that has foreign experience, tenure on the foreign relations committee. he has that under his belt. if there are conflicts overseas and secretary clinton uses this to her advantage, i think you'll see a lot of attention for him for the intervention. host: next up on the line for democrats. hello? what i want to -- can you hear me now a ge? is thewant to talk about

on that subject on our newsmakers program, senator tom harkin joined us, the chairman of the health educationor and pensions committee. he talked about whether democrats should campaign on the health-care law this year. here is a bit of what he had to say. [video clip] midterm election approaches in november, should democrats run on obamacare? >> absolutely. >> tell us why. >> of course, i am not running for reelection. [laughter] >> let's hear about that. >> i have said many times politically, i encourage the republicans to keep running against obamacare. we have 4 million people signed up now. 4 million people that did not have health insurance before, or they had no coverage, basically. that is incredible. host: in our "newsmakers " program, which runs sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern and 6:00 p.m. eastern. , he talks about saying they should run on it, but again he is retiring, so it might be easier for him to say that than some others. guest: right. one of the curious issues that have come up in a lot of the issues that i conduct with candidates for the house is medicaid expansion. for examp

ball buster and joni ernst a republican is running to take the seat of retiring in iowa senator tom harkinants everyone to know that she won't take any nonsense from the hacks and wash it after all she cut her chops castrating pigs on a farm to look at her new campaign and. i'm joni ernst i grew up castrating hogs on an iowa on arm so when i go. to washington all know how to come for. earth's mother soldier conservative my parents taught us to live within our means it's time to force washington to do the same to cut wasteful spending repeal obamacare and balance the budget i'm joni ernst and i approve this message because washington's full of big spenders let's make them squeal. while one thing's for sure though even if ernst doesn't get a life to chill doesn't make some inroads with the deliverance wing of the republican party. didn't feel. we. didn't. have it. to get out. going up is a game over for planet earth and we passed the climate threshold some think we have i think there's hope there's still time we have to act now i'll tell you how we can save our planet we call home and rides

their political leaders and now we've got senators like elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and tom harkin and now jeff merkley and others joining the call mark begich from alaska which is hardly a blue state a hard core blue state all coming around and saying we need to expand this program in my opinion the initial proposals are good but modest i think we need to do even more and i think this is one where if the public mobilizes and pushes the politicians we've already gone through there in the right direction then i expected us to but we need to keep pushing we can't congratulate ourselves we have work to do in my book rebuilding the american dream i had a chapter about the experience of several other european countries in lowering the retirement age and suggested if we drop the social security eligibility age and the medicare eligibility age from sixty to sixty from sixty five down to sixty that probably only about half the people in that cohort would take advantage of that but they're getting out of the workforce would open up job opportunities for young people that would dramatically

that's something that's on the that's on the agenda right now elizabeth warren is talking about it tom harkin's talking about it. so the president actually go a lot further it's not just about what you know wins elections it's about having an opportunity to really push the you know the dynamic of the conversation obviously when obama's not necessarily you know yes the democrats politically what wins elections is going to decide who gets to write the budget yeah but i mean i think a lot of these you know. generally populist proposals are something that democrats have run on in the past and i found a lot of success on you know i think just think it's strange that the president wouldn't want to use his executive position to act as more of a bully pulpit type of way i think of the big stuff and debate outside of in these times in the big picture is the mainstream media ok and they are addicted to thinking that you cannot be considered serious unless you talk about deficit reduction and fixing social security or even fixing medicare i'm not saying these are good things i'm simply saying this is real

and a half to senator lamar alexander for his steadfast leadership and input, and, of course, to tom harkin, our leader, who as he wraps up his senate career will never wrap up his advocacy for america's children and i'd like to thank all of our staff for the great work that they did in the 100 meetings with stakeholders and the 200 meetings with us. so, madam president, i'm ready for the vote and yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. burr: a quick opportunity to thank my colleague, senator mikulski for those kind words and more importantly for her passion on this issue, to the chair and the ranking member for their help but more importantly to the committee staff and personal staffs that have been over here for the last several days and late lasttime night trying to work out amendments to the members who have been very, very accommodating to changes so that we can get this bill up and i might take a personal privilege to say that part of this bill was done by a former staff member of mine, celia symms, and she is one proud woman today because of that being