michelle cooper? guest: what research has shown is is when students are working more than 20 hours per week, their focus on their studies decrease and that actually prolongs the time it takes for them to graduate. so one of the reasons for advocating a reasonable amount of student loan debt is to help accelerate the time that students actually spend in college. we do suggest that if students can get a reasonable amount of debt through the u.s. department of education's loan program, that they are more likely to finish college faster and then go into the job market with strong careers that will help them repay their loan options. we wouldn't advocate for students to go to college full-time and work full-time. that's not a good formula. host: monica on twitter refers to a point that joshua was bringing up. she asks, why is financing for trade classes harder and more expensive than traditional degree universities? guest: i think what monica want to do is look at the particular trade classes that she is c

host: michelle cooper from the institute of higher education policy. thanks so much. we'll take you live to the house floor. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., december 1, 2011. i hereby appoint the honorable allen b. west to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 5, 2011, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. at this time the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. mcnerney, for five minutes. mr. mcnerney: mr. speaker, i rise to address the budget gridlock t

cooperating with the investigation? >> his mother walked into the state attorney's office, subpoenaed to answer questions about michelle parker. smith's son, dale, is the primary suspect in parker's disappearance. he's denied all wrong doing. legal experts believe family members may hold critical information. >> there's a lot of information members of the family can offer, when they are all living together. >> reporter: 33-year-old michelle went missing hours after she appeared on a taped episode of "people's court" organizing over an engagement ring. >> i felt somebody grab me and yank me around. >> reporter: her hummer was found the next day. there's no trace of the young mother. michelle's family met with detectives as they try to keep their hopes and michelle's memory alive. >> that is it for news 4 at 5:00. >> stay right there, news 4 at 6:00 starts right now. >>> hundreds of protesters disrupted travel in the district. that led to dozens of arrests today. >> jerry sandusky back in jail on new charges. >>> mitt romney attacks president obama. >>> good evening, i'm jim vance. >> i'm doreen gentzler. the umbrellas d

nearly three weeks since michelle parker went missing and police have said their only suspect is dale smith and now they have questioned smith's mother. >> mrs. smith, are you cooperating >> reporter: silently staring straight ahead, dale smith's mother, tamra, walked into the state attorney's office subpoenaed to answer questions about missing mom, michelle parker. smith's son, dale, is the man police say is the primary suspect in the disappearance. dale has denied all wrongdoing but legal experts believe his family members may hold critical information. >> there's a lot of relevant information that members of the family can offer, especially when they're all living together. >> reporter: 33-year-old michelle went missing, just hours after she appeared on national tv with her ex-fiance on a taped episode of "the people's court" arguing over a lost engagement ring. >> i felt somebody grab me and yank me around. >> reporter: michelle's abandoned hummer was found the following day but extensive searches in the air, on ground and underwater have yet to find any trace of the young mother. meanwhile michelle's family also met with detectives, as they try to keep their hopes

heidi cooper confronted her attacker and is sharing her story with the world. she will speak with news a moment but first nbc's michelle inside this tampa courtroom -- >> my name is heidi elizabeth damon. i have a name. i have a name that will go on forever. >> reporter: and not holding back. >> i survived! you have simply victimized yourself. i will be free for the rest of my life. you will be a prisoner for the rest of yours. >> reporter: heidi damon personally deliver ad message to cooper on the day he was sentenced for trying to rape and kill her. >> i am not a victim. i am the victor. the stronger and the winner. >> reporter: it has been two years since damon was brutality attacked during the day in this parking garage while walking to her car. damon testified cooper grabbed her from behind while she was talking on her cell phone. choked her and caused her to pass out. when she came to, her pants and underwear had been removed. and she was bruised and her eyes remained bloodied for weeks afterwards. >> tell me your name. >> reporter: prosecutors say her assailant, just 16 years old at the time of his arrest, and m

but cooper and his attorneys accepted a plea deal of 15 years in prison, followed by ten years probation. but heidi says her attacker will have a lifetime to think about her words. ann. >> michellenzen, thank you so much. well, the aforementioned heidi damon now joins us exclusively. good morning. what gave you the courage to so publicly confront your attacker? >> i think the desire to want to help other people that might not be as able to come out and talk about difficult things. >> but what made you able? i mean because so many people who have been attacked, especially women, will not want to be identified especially when there is an attempted rape. >> i felt that if i didn't come out and put my name out there that it would just be another case of someone almost murdered, almost raped, and that it would just kind of be another story that passes by. that if i actually put an identity that i'm a person, that i've given to my community, that i've lived a life, that he almost took an actual life, that people would take it a little bit more seriously. i always use branding as a part of my explanation that, a lot of people remember brands or names or -- like the "today" show. but if

cooper. we will continue this conversation and go to our phone lines during the break. i am done with some of my questions to micheleachmann and the rest of the segment to get there will be confined to phone calls from all of the country. we're simulcasting with and c- span. >> we are back live with our c- span audience. michele bachmann is in the studio. let's talk with james. >> thank you for taking my call. i appreciate it. pleasure to be on the air with michelle bachmann. i want to address things she said. i was a friend of cindy mccain this past year. i suggest michele bachmann to a google search for cindy mccain and uss. israel is not an ally of america. michele bachmann is willing to overlook. spewing lies about ron paul. he is not going to put our country at risk militarily. michele bachmann is a neocon, willing to get us into world war ii. ahmadinejad never threatened to wipe israel off the map. you can go to my blog for more on this. >> he is on a bond paul rand. address it any way you wish. >> i do believe israel is our ally and i believe we need to stand for israel. i think that is been part of the probl