if utah governor gary herbert is available, sir, gary herbert, can you hear me live from the convention>> i can hear you. >> this is a nice last-minute thing as we're watching the breaking news of ann romney. i'm not sure if she's behind you, in front of you or adjacent. tell me about the planning involved. i have a million questions for you. for starters, get me into the beginning of this day. we're in officially day two, b it is day one because of the storm. as we move into the main events, what are you hoping to achieve today with this agenda? >> well, i think there's a lot of concern here for those who are in the path of hurricane isaac, and certainly puts a little bit of a damper on the convention because we understand the concerns that those people are going to be harm's way. that being said, there's business to be done here at the convention. we're all excited about the opportunity to finally formally nominate mitt romney as our republican nominee and help him become the next president of the united states. >> all right. talk to me a little bit about some of the conversation that

you talked about utah governor gary herbert's office. they said utah's request for a waiver is from increased customization to maximize employment among the welfary e recipients. hhs, acting assistant secretary of hhs said this is all about trying to create innovative strategies and flexibilities and policies and procedures designed to improve outcomes. they are saying the same thing. >> sure. and the question you have to ask is given the track record of this particular secretary of health and human services, given the general between liberalism and radicalism of appointees and part of what led to this strong reaction on the part of a lot of conservatives and republicans, this came out in the same fread hour period as the president's famous speech that you didn't build. you were not responsible as a small business owner for what you achieved. it's almost as though he was psychologically attacking work and achievement at the same time he was shifting the regulations and candidly this is not an administration that you will find any conserv

you talked about utah governor gary herbert's office said utah's request for a waiver stems from a desire for increased customization for the program to maximize employment among utah's welfare recipients. that's almost word for word what the hhs is saying. the hhs acting assistant secretary of hhs said that this is all about trying to create innovative strategies, flexibility, policies and procedures design eed to improv employment outcomes. they're basically saying the same thing, no? >> sure. the question you have to ask yourself, given the track record of this particular secretary of human health care and human services. given the strong reaction on a part of a lot of con receiver tifs and republicans, this came out in the same 48-hour period as the president's famous speech that you didn't build it, you weren't responsible for a small business leader for what you achieved. it's almost as though he was psychologically attacking work and achievement at the same time he was shifting the regulations. and candidly, this is not an administration that you're going to find any conservative g

you talk about utah governor gary herbert's office put out a statement. they said, utah's request for a waiver stems from a stir for increased customization of the program to maximize employment among utah's welfare recipients. that's almost word for word what the hhs is saying. the hhs, acting assistant secretary of hhs said this is all about trying to create innovative strategies, flexibility, policies and procedures designed to improve employment outcomes for needy families. they're basically saying the same thing, no? >> sure. and the question you have to ask yourself is given the track record of this particular secretary of health and human services, given the general somewhere between liberalism and radicalism of the obama appointees, and remembering that part of what led to the strong reaction on the par of a lot of conservatives and republicans, was this came out in the same 48-hour period was the president's famous speech that you didn't build it, that you aren't responsible as a small business owner for what you achieve. it's almost as though he

you talked about utah governor, gary herbert's office said, utah's request for a waiver stems from a request for the desire to maximize employment. that's almost word for word what the hhs is saying. the hhs acting assistant secretary of hhs said this is all about trying to create innovative strategy, flexibility, policies and procedures designed to improve employment outcomes for needy families. they're basically saying the same thing. >> sure. the question you have to ask yourself is given the track record of this particular secretary of health and human services, given the general way between appointees. the strong reaction. was this came out in the same 48-hour period as the president's famous speech that you didn't build it. that you aren't responsible as a small business owner for what you achieve. it's almost as though he wastta and achievement at the same time. this is not the administration that i think you're going to find any conservative give the benefit of the doubt to. >> i got to come back, then, to the wording of of this ad. it's under obama's plan, you wouldn't have

administraon last moh to hear requts from o republican governors-- brian sandoval of nevada and gary herbert of utah-- for waivers or exceptions, allowing state changes to federally funded welfare-to-work programs. at a rally in des moines, iowa, yesterday, governor romney said allowing those changes would be a step in the wrong direction. >> as a result of putting work together with welfare, the number of people on welfare was cut in half; poverty was reduced. five straight years the level of poverty in this country came down. it is wrong to make any change that would make america more of a nation of government dependency. we must restore and i will restore work into welfare. ( cheers and applause ) >> woodruff: the obama campaign has hit back hard at the charges. white house spokesman jay carney: >> from a policy standpoint, let me say that this advertisement is categorically false and it is blatantly dishonest. this administration's policy will strengthen the program by giving states the opportunity to employ more effective ways to help people get off welfare and into a job. >> woodruff:

the letter from gary herbert, governor of utah, both republicans, written august 1st, 2011.l, what his office says in making this request. he says, governor sandoval has been very supportive of the concept of collaborative efforts among nevada state agents and recently included funding for an employer incentive program targeted to create jobs for the temporary -- the program, the welfare program, tanf recipients in his proposed executive budget. in seeking a waiver, the governor from utah, his office wrote we are very interested in being of assistance in the work of providing flexibility within and among fundi ining sources f more effective outcomes sfwl right. >> when these five governors asked for flexibility, governor, the department of health and human services responded by saying we'll give you flexibility, but only, only if you continue to make sure people go from welfare to work and you increase the work capabilities rather than reduce them. we'll give you some flexibility. >> not quite. not quite, wolf. go back and read what you just read me. that letter says that th

gary herbert, republican governor of utah. brian sandoval, republican governor of nevada.ederal government in the obama administration, let us have a waiver so in utah and nevada we can more effectively deal with welfare. >> and they both came out and said they were against what the obama administration's done. >> why would they ask for that waiver to begin with if they later change their mind? >> they weren't asking for that kind of waiver. notice, section 407 it is illegal under the law to waive section 407. obama used a totally different part of the bill to fudge what i think is probably an illegal action. the congress made it illegal to waive this because our experience with states, particularly liberal states, was that they would redefine work to mean virtually anything. >> all right. you were at the white house when welfare reform was signed into law, is that right? >> right. >> you remember who the president of the united states was that would be bill clinton. i was the white house correspondent for cnn. you disagreed with him a lot but on this issue you came to agr

utah's republican governor gary herbert had his staff write a similar letter, we're interested in beingg flexibility in and among funding resources for more effective outcomes. both of those letters written august 1st and august 2nd, 2001. the president is right when he says the republican governors, themselves, asked precisely for this kind of flexibility. >> and he's right when he says that the romney campaign, for saying that this is gutting welfare, the work requirement, it's just not true. that's not the case. >> i wish i had your job at the white house when president clinton signed this welfare reform in the '90s. i remember it well. he got into trouble with liberal democrats who didn't like it at the time including barack obama who was a young legislator who didn't like it. he signed it into ad. >> they're not running them unless they think they're working. we're asking if the ads are having an impact ahead. we're standing by with new poll numbers on the race for the white house. >>> and we have details on hurricane con tin swrtingency p that's right, for the republican national

gary herbert, a republican put out statements saying -- you know, defending utah's request for waiverle idea is we need to help people have better working outcomes. the romney came pain is going full-steam ahead saying welfare reform is over. it's saying as you point out, you have asked for a waiver. we will give you the waiver as long as you can show us you can get 20% more people moving from welfare to work than you could under the federal requirements. >> right >> in the announcement, hhs said you have to show us your plan. it has to be good. you can't reduce cash assistance to people by doing this and you've got to make sure your employment outcomes are improving. then in another letter responding to members of congress upset about this kathleen sell eastbound selbius said you have to do 20% better. >> politifacts, bill adair from bpolitifact rates them from 100% true to pants on fire. things in between. sometimes mostly true, mostly false, dah dah. pants on fire is as bad as you can get. it means there is not a shred of truth. they looked at this ad and rated it pants on fire. in