remarks now by afl-cio president richard trumka.e talks about the state of the economy and its impact on families as well as is opposition to portions of the health care legislation. from the national press club, this last about an hour. >> good afternoon. welcome to the national press club for speakers luncheon. i am president of the national press club and a reporter for "usa today." we're the leading organization for professional journalist and we provide it informative programming and journalism education and foster a free press worldwide. for more information about the national press club, please web at our website at press.org. on behalf of our members worldwide, how well -- i would like to welcome our speaker and the gas in the audience today. i would also like to welcome those of you watching on c-span. for those in our broadcast audience if you hear applause, it may be from the guests and members of the general public to attend our luncheon and not necessarily from the working press. i would now like to introduce our head t

richard trumka. [applause] >> first of all, let me thank you donna for those very kind and generous words. i like to know that i'm delighted to be here at the national press club. i also want to thank the officers of the press club for the invitation to be here with you today, especially due and bob carden speakers chairman committee member who actually arranged this thing. thank you, bob here it ten days into the decade and one year into the obama administration our nation remains poised between the failed policies of the past in the hopes for a better future. this is a moment that cries out for political courage and were not seen enough of it. i spent the first week of this year traveling on the west coast. in san francisco, i was arrested with low-wage hotel workers fighting to protect their health care and their pension from leveraged buyouts that it gone bad. in los angeles and san diego, i talked with working americans moved to tears by foreclosures and unemployment, by outsourcing and benefit

. >> today on c-span, the afl-cio 's richard trumka talks about benefits for working families.pend. -- c-span. martha: clique, joe kennedy, and others need for a debate. live coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern. in congress, the house returns tomorrow. members will double in at noon eastern. voting will be postponed until 6:30 eastern. on january 20, the senate considers a bill. in the meantime, health care negotiations set to begin this week. democrats also discussed the jobs and health care. president obama and former president clinton will be there to talk about his experience with health care legislation. the aim is to get a final bill to the president before the state of the union address. >> i am always concerned about the potential unforeseen unintended consequences of new regulations. regulations of any kind act as a tax. when you regulate something, you tend to diminish it. >> today, the fcc communicator robert mcdowell on the efforts to create a national broadband plan. host: our guest is david masci, senior researcher at the pure form. -- pew forum. this morning in

richard trumka. [applause] [applause] >> thank you thank you for this kind and generous words and i'm delighted to be here at the national press club. i also want to thank the officers of the press club for the invitation to be here with you today special you and bob carden, the committee chair member who arranged this. thank you. ten days to the decade and one here in tuzee obama administration our nation remains poised between the failed policies of the past and hopes for a better future. this is a moment that cries out for political courage and we are not seeing enough i spent the first week of this year traveling on the west coast. in san francisco i was of rested with low-wage hotel workers fighting to protect their health care and pensions from leveraged buyouts that had gone bad. in los angeles and in san diego i talked with working americans who moved to tiers by outsourcing and benefit cuts. everywhere i went people said to me why do so many of the people we elect seem to care only about wal

richard trumka.[applause] >> thank you for those very kind and generous words and let you know i am delighted to be here at the national press club. i also want to thank the officers of the press club for the invitation to be here with you today. especially you and the speaker chairman committee member who arranged this. thank you. 10 days into the decade and one year into the obama administration, our nation remains poised between the failed policies of the past and the hopes for a better future. this is a moment that cries out for political courage and we're not seeing enough of it. i spent the first week of this year traveling on the west coast. in san francisco, i was arrested with low-wage hotel workers fighting to protect their health care and pensions from leveraged buyouts that gone bad. in san diego, i talked with working americans and was moved to tears by foreclosures and unemployment, by outsourcing and benefit cuts. everywhere i went, people said to me "why do so many of the people we el

richard trumka.applause] >> first of all, let me thank you donna for those very kind and generous words. i like to know that i'm delighted to be here at the national press club. i also want to thank the officers of the press club for the invitation to be here with you today, especially due and bob carden speakers chairman committee member who actually arranged this thing. thank you, bob here it ten days into the decade and one year into the obama administration our nation remains poised between the failed policies of the past in the hopes for a better future. this is a moment that cries out for political courage and were not seen enough of it. i spent the first week of this year traveling on the west coast. in san francisco, i was arrested with low-wage hotel workers fighting to protect their health care and their pension from leveraged buyouts that it gone bad. in los angeles and san diego, i talked with working americans moved to tears by foreclosures and unemployment, by outsourcing and benefit cu

president is meeting today with labor leaders, and before that, afl-cio president richard trumka talksabout unemployment and the economic future or working families. we will have that life in the national press club at 1 p.m. eastern, and that also on c-span. >> while we wait for this panel to resume, a conversation on the attempted bombing of or a passenger jet headed to detroit on christmas day. this is it's about 45 minutes. we will show you as much as we can before the form on school spending resumes. >> brian michael jenkins senior advisor with the rand corporation, former captain with army special forces has testified numerous times on capitol hill about counterterrorism international and homegrown terrorism. wanted to start by looking at 2009 with major hasan, the somalis who have converted or recruited from minnesota the five young man from northern virginia that went to pakistan. of course most really, a flight 253 incident, the alleged bomber there. what does that say about recruitment efforts by al qaeda and other radical jihad groups both here in the u.s. and abroad? >> al

coakley, this morning the head of the afl-cio, richard trumka, said that it would be a recipe for disaster if the final health care bill includes a tax on high-end insurance plans. what is in the senate bill. senator obama says he is for that tax on high plans. you got a labor support, you've got your president beyond the position. where do you come down? >> the president also said he with thought there was a lot of room to determine exactly what was going to be in those cadillac plans. maybe the broad net should include a couple toy iotas or something. so it would not be as the current definition. i don't agree with it and writing there are different ways we can pay for the plan. >> brief intervention. >> this is at about cars it's about health care. at the plan we are talking about here -- it is going to be taxing those cadillac plans for good union members who fought so hard for good faith bargaining to get the plans. in addition to that, how are you going to pay for this? cut in half a trillion dollars out of medicare and also going to be taxing people not on my watch and wait to get a

coakley, that had of the afl-cio, richard trumka said it would be a recipe for disaster if the finalalth care bill includes a tax on high-end insurance plans. senator obama says he is for the attacks on high-end plans. you've got labor support. it's not your president and the other position. were you, not? >> the president also said he thought there was a lot of room to determine what exactly was going to be in this cadillac lance. maybe the net should include a couple toyotas or something. and so it would not he as the current definition. i don't agree with it and i think there are different ways that we can pay for that plan. >> reasoner mission. this is about cars. it's about health care. the plan were talking about here is going to be taxing this cadillac ran so-called for good union members who thought so hard through good-faith bargaining to get those plans reared in addition to that, how are you going to pay for this? you're cutting half a trillion dollars out of medicare. girls are going to be taxing people at a time that they just can't afford it. we can do better. we electe