we're going to have senator lamar alexander, we're going to have educators like steve perry rick hess at aei and dr. heart stock to phone to action as well. here's what i want you to walk away with an understanding that we understand that we believe that a child's education should not be determined. the quality of your education should not be determined by your zip code. that every child in every facet of this nation has the potential to be a lifelong learner. and to be a child of excellence. we want to make sure we focus our attention to make sure that every single student, everywhere in the nation, no matter your zip code, no matter your ethnic background. no matter your family income.

this is red meat to lamar alexander. overall, this would affect 7.6 million unionized workers in this country. the bill would allow employers to give merit based wage increases to individual employees. that sounds got, doesn't it? rubio's website says the raise act would essentially make wages set in union contracts a minimum floor while gives employers the flexibility to reward diligent employees for their hard work. that's where it really sounds good. the bill sounds great on paper, but it is a union buster. that's what they love to do. the legislation is designed to corrupt the collective bargaining process. this creates a climate in the workplace that sets the table for, i believe, discrimination. i thought we passed all that. this would give companies the

lamar alexander is chairman of the committee. i look forward to working with him. in terms of infrastructure, the need to rebuild our comfort -- our crumbling infrastructure, i suspect we can work with him as well. >> final question. >> what are you seeing in the republican presidential field? is general election matchup look like? them much for speculations. i think we have an american people who are demoralized politically. it was the fact that 63% of the american people did not vote. i would hope that we can restore hope and faith in the american people, that we can start doing things that improve life for the mast the geordie of people rather than billionaire campaign investors. >> senator sanders explained that he is an independent, which is how he landed an assignment as the lead democrat on the budget committee. what kind of power does he really have in that spot? >> in a minority of the senate you have more power than you would in the house. he has a few tools in the senate you was a budget comes to the senate floor, if and when the republicans try to move

lamar alexander is chairman of the health education and welfare committee. i look forward to working with him. in terms of infrastructure, the need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, i suspect we can work with him as well. >> final question. we are almost out of time. >> you have talked about the democratic presidential field what are you seeing in the , republican presidential field? what are you hearing? what does the general election matchup look like? >> i'm not much into speculation. i really can't tell you. this is what i can tell you. i think we have an american people who are demoralized politically. the real story of last midterm election was not just the significant republican victory it was the fact that 63% of the american people did not vote. i would hope that whether you are republican democrat, or independent that we can restore hope and faith in the american people in the democratic process that we can start doing , things that improve life for the vast majority of our people rather than billionaire campaign , investors. >> senator sand

maybe we'll hear more from lamar alexander again.that discussion gets underway at about 2:30 or so, part of the earlier conversation has senator scott's forum. >> it's worth noting i'm a school choice advocate not simply a charter school advocate. ragged schools are raggedy schools. there are some raggedy traditional schools that need to be shut down a couple of years ago. simply because a charter school struggles, doesn't mean charter schools struggle. we need to get pastd charter or traditional. we need to get past private or public. we need to get down to what education is about which is providing differentiated instruction to children to meet them where they are and take them to where they need to be. we spent too much time having a conversation about the ends of the conversation. it's not a jobs program. it's not a tenure conversation. you hear so many times, people talking about, well, the traditional schools need more resources.% it's not the issue of money. the amount of money that the traditional schools get. and if money we

i feel very confident that senator alexander, lamar alexander of tennessee is leading the effort of this no child left behind statute. there is going to be a bill. seems to me this is a common sense thing we could add that will help keep young people safer, and the thing i like about it is i put in the bill because i just was listening one day and a student had a great idea and i thought, good i'm going to take that idea and see what we can do with it. >> appreciate your time and thanks for talking to us about the bill. >> absolutely aaron. >>> a major deal announced this morning between staples and office depot. the company taking control. plus a travel website from a kid's point of view. the local 11-year-old sharing >>> news today, a major office retail merger is now official. staples will buy office depot in a cash and stock deal. the merger is valued at nearly $6 billion. office depot shareholders will receive a cash payout and a share of staples. the deal is expected to close by the end of the year. >>> the university of the district of columbia could be renamed in honor of the lat

every one of these guys including mitch mcconnell and all the establishment republicans, even lamar alexanderpublicans and we will block obama's executive amnesty. well -- >> a court did temporarily. >> well -- >> i think successfully. >> yes. but i mean most people don't even know. and i'm a little irritated with fox news for this with ten hours of original programming every single day that we haven't heard for two weeks senate democrats have been filibustering -- >> i talked about it. >> okay, well, thank you. i think we could talk about it maybe a tenth as much as isis. if you want to cover muslim atrocities you can do that from 1632 until the end of time 24 hours a day seven days a week. there's always going to be muslim atrocities. whenever the media starts obsessing with isis i think you're hiding something. and you're hiding something on the democrats who themselves when they're running for office say, oh no, of course i don't support obama's executive amnesty. now they're down there filibustering that. do americans know that? >> three separate times -- here's the question -- >> a lot

but coming up next, the lunch with former education secretary rod paige and later lamar alexander. while we are in this break, here is a look ahead in congress. >> joining us on the phone congressional reporter from the hill to talk about what else is happening in washington. so mike, what is on the agenda in capitol hill. we'll start with the senate this week. >> they need to pass the funding bill for the department of homeland security. big issue and contentious issue because of the immigration amendment the house passed last month when it sent it over to the senate and you saw mitch mcconnell struggle with this, bringing it up not once, not twice, but three times and from vulnerable democrats and it didn't work. and the house bill as passed is not going to pass the senate and now mcconnell is faced with what do we do and how do we pass the department of homeland security funding bill and how do we handle the push-back against obama on deportation and that is why the house attached those amendments. so there is nothing planned in the senate right now as it stands because they don

we're going to also have senator lamar alexander. we're going to have educators like steve perry from capital preparatory schools to grassroot energizers like rick hess at aei and dr. hartsock from phone to action, as well. here's what i want you to walk away with. is an understanding that we understand that we believe that a child's education should not be determined. the quality of your education should not be determined by your zip code. that every child in every facet of this nation has the potential to be a lifelong learner. and to be a child of excellence. and so we want to make sure that we focus our attention on making sure that every single student everywhere in the nation no matter your zip code no matter your ethnic background no matter your family income has the opportunity to succeed, and if we do that, our future will be amazing. >> amen! >> thank you, brother. i like that. the brethren over here to the left understands us. amen. there you go. let me make it crystal clear. we must act now on the issue of educational cho

we will hear from amazing speakers beyond this panel and we've also have senator lamar alexander and educators like steve from p. torres schools to gas roots -- grass-roots energizers from phone action as well. here is what i would like you to walk away with is the understanding that he would be labeled that a child's education shouldn't be determined. the quality of your education shouldn't be determined by your zip code. that every child in every facet of the nation has a potential to be a lifelong learner and to be a child of excellence. so we want to make sure that we focus our attention on making sure that every single student everywhere in the nation no matter your zip code no matter your ethnic background, no matter your family income has the opportunity to succeed. and if we do that our future will be amazing. [applause] the brother over here to the left understands the amen. let me make this crystal clear. we must act now on the issue of educational choice. this isn't an issue we can just say it's a good issue. you have to fight for this every single day to make sure that ou

i used the word establishment carefully, but you have kind of a tradition, howard baker, lamar alexander bob corker. why is that? why is tennessee support kind of pragmatic republicans are some other southern states have really gotten behind the firebrands who do raise money off picking fights? >> i mean it's really, i do get asked that a lot. the best answer i have come those of you don't, tennessee, our states i guess three different stores on because there's what we call almost three different parts of tennessee, the east this madness, east was basically fought with the north in the supporting of slavery was never an issue because nobody could plant anything. it's historically been republican, lincoln republican. middle tennessee is dominated by national which is a really thriving economy. west tennessee was traditionally dominated by the mississippi river. it's a delta farming agriculture, a cambridge democrat traditionally. i think the point would be if it is to when you had to be able, you could just come out one part of the state and bowled over everybody. your to really do well i

you have a tradition, howard baker, lamar alexander bob corker, why is that? why does tennessee support pragmatic republicans where some other southern states have gotten behind the fire brands who do raise money? >> i get asked that a lot. i'd love to say it's the quality of the candidates but the best answer i have, tennessee, our state flag has three different stars on it because there's almost three parts of tennessee. the east where i'm from is mountainous. east basically fought with the north in the civil war. slavery was never an issue because nobody could plan anything. it's historically republican as in lincoln republican. middle tennessee is dominated by nashville which is a really thriving economy. west tennessee was traditionally dominated by the mississippi rivers, delta, farming agriculture, very democrat traditionally. but the point is that to win you couldn't just come out of one part of the state and bowl over everybody. you had to do well in all parts. so it forced you to be out listening to people. i think the more you're out, it's the good

last month senator lamar alexander, who chairs the education committee and was education secretary under president george h.w. bush out lined his proposal for fibsing the law, open to discussion on whether the federal government should dictate standardized testing or leave it up to states. his remarks came at a senate hearing with representatives from state and local agencies from around the country. >> please come to order. this morning we'll have a hearing on fixing no child left behind testing and accountability. there's a lot of interest in this hearing. we've heard from people around the country ever since last week when we put a draft working paper on the website. we have a lot of people in the hall. there is an overflow room 538. you'll be able to listen to all of the proceedings. so if someone would let those outside know that, why, then they'll have a chance to hear the witness testimony and the questions. we welcome them and we welcome everyone who is here. ranking member murray and i will each have an opening statement. they'll we'll introduce our panel of witnesses. then we'l

we're going to also have senator lamar alexander we're going to have educators like steve perry fromcapital preparatory schools to grassroots energizers like rick hess at aei and dr. cam ya hartsock as well. here's what i want you to work with is an understanding that we understand that we believe that a child's education should not be determined, the quality of your education should not be determined by your zip code. that every child in every facet of this nation has the potential to be a lifelong learner. and to be a child of excellence. and so we want to make sure that we focus our attention on making sure that every single student everywhere in the nation no matter your zip code, no matter your ethnic background no matter your family income has the opportunity to succeed. and if we do that, our future will be amazing. >> amen. [applause] >> thank you brother. [applause] i like that. [laughter] the brethren over here to the left understands the amen. [laughter] let me make it crystal clear. we must act now on the issue of educational choice. this is not an issue that we can just