the truth is that that day, the afl-cio building was closed on the day of the march on washington in 63. the historic fact is that although the afl-cio endorsed the principles behind the march, the federation had not endorsed the march itself, even the major unions of the afl-cio were making the very march possible. martin luther king jr. often said it was not just african- americans who needed to be freed from the burdens of racism. the labor movement is rightfully proud of all working people did it to help the civil rights movement, but we do not often enough that knowledge of what the civil rights movement did to free the american labor movement, because -- [applause] as we learned, and i learned particularly in the united mine workers even long before i was born, if workers let racism divide us, we will always be weak. so today, our doors are wide open, and it is both with humility and pride that we welcome all of you to the house of labor. we have assembled this morning an extraordinary panel to address the continuing struggle to make real in america division and the values of dr

i an executive vice president here at the afl and cio. alf of the secretary treasury here, we want to welcome all of you to the house of labor this morning. [applause] we are so excited for those of you that are in the room. as you know, this is also being a web cast, we are on c-span. we absolutely thank all of those who are participating. this has been an historic week in washington, d.c., in many ways. as we all know, the unveiling of the martin luther king, jr. memorial has been postponed. the eastern seaboard is in the path of hurricane irene. natural disasters, brothers and sisters, we cannot control. but it is the man-made disasters, that we have the power to change their direction if we so choose. we are reminded on this day of that march on washington 48 years ago when dr. martin luther king, jr. moved our people and our nation to embrace his dream of america, and a dream that he it and -- a dream that he and the african american labor leader a developer randolph shared. [applause] when we began talking about coasting aid jobs and

the president of the afl-cio, mr. richard trumka. [applause] >> thank you, martin, for the very kind introduction, but more importantly, thank you for what he do every day and with the king family does every day. we all owe you and your family tremendous debt of gratitude. i just want to say thank you on behalf of all of us. let me say good morning to everybody. on behalf of the afl and cio unions, in our 12 million members, i want to welcome you all here today. i want to take just one moment to give a special welcome to reverend jackson, who has probably stood on as many picket lines with me as anybody else around. when it came to defending justice and standing up for workers' rights, jesse, you have always been there, and i want is a thank you for all of the things you have done. [applause] 48 years ago this weekend, literally hundreds of thousands of people gathered here in washington to march for jobs and march for freedom. they came at the call of a philip randolph, who was the president of the brotherhood of sleeping car porters

richard trumka is with us, president of the afl-cio. richard, it's wonderful to have you back on the program. welcome. >> thanks for having me back on, maria. >> so you and other labor leaders had a closed-door meeting at the white house, the day after the deal to raise the debt ceiling was struck. what message did you have for the president? >> we told him that the focus has to be on jobs. and we expect every politician to be as aggressive with job creation from this point forward as they were with the manufactured debt crisis that we saw over the last couple of months. that too many people are out of work. we need to put them back to work. and if you really want to solve every problem in the country, create jobs and you'll see them fall by the wayside. >> how do you do that, richard? how do you create jobs? there is so much uncertainty out there. what would you like to see done? >> well, one, we'd like to see infrastructure be at the top of the list and create some of t the -- repair some of the crumbling infrastructure that we see aro

today, president of the afl-cio announced you're going to see us give less money to build structures for others. in other words less money and support for political structure of the democratic party. >> i look and i see these puppets, talking heads. i'm going to do this for you and that for you ac transit bus driver milton smith agree was his union president, the democratic party, he says has not delivered. >> forget the rhetoric and talking. okay? let's drop the talking and do something now. >> unions are getting weaker. >> sandra lee says politicians will not stand up for unions if they believe it will cost votes. >> i don't think anyone is feeling such of a job these days. >> in a gathering we asked about the announcement. >> well, i, too, have reservations about the columbian and the agreements. >> both pleasanton congressman and walnut grove congressman answered union support question the same way. >> let's be clear about this. this democrat along with the local delegation here do not support trade agreements. >> he says he's not afraid of losing union support its not my decision

saying he may not get the support of the afl-cio. that is big. nt of the afl-cio say? >> he's looking at what the labor union can do outside of the president's reelect campaign. he talked to some reporters at this breakfast and took a look at what they can do to get access to maybe state races in other races where it is going to have more of an impact in electing senators, members of the house. no getting involved in that obama 2012 -- >> greta: that's a threat. >> absolutely. >> greta: what is the unhappiness with the president? >> a lot of things labor is unhappy with. one element before he became president he was out there promising he would hold a vote, make sure the house and senate held a vote in the employee-free choice act allowing organizes to form labor unions. that never happened even when the democrats had a super majority in congress, arlen specter switching parties. the president said that he would do that. that was something they didn't see that was the first disappointment. then you go on to health care. you had issues with the pub

economy at the afl-cio's annual labor day briefing. after that, california congressmen that committee member will be holding a town hall meeting with constituents. at 8:00, the justice department holding a briefing on the proposed at&t/t-mobile merger and why it filed a lawsuit to block the merger. finally, president obama calls on congress to pass extensions to the transportation bill and the legislation reauthorize in the faa. here is what is ahead on the c- span2 -- a female marine corps officer of's combat experience in iraq. at 9:00, the parallel universes and the plots of the cosmos. at 10:15, david brooks and his new book "the social animal." that is all on the booktv primetime. >> machiavelli s -- machiavelli has become an adjective. i doubt many people would like to be described as a machiavellian. not too many people would call themselves machiavellian. >> his name is synonymous with cynical scheming and the selfish pursuit of power. sunday night, the argument that machiavelli's theories may have been a response to the corrupt

the afl-cio was on the front lines protesting this.l give more influence to corporations. now they are taking more advantage of it than anyone. it's estimated they will be pouring about a billion dollars into obama's reelection efforts it's fine because everybody has a right to have a voice. and it will take lot more than a billion or 2 billion as his approvals go down well under 40%. megyn: is there any hypocrisy with the union taking that position? >> absolutely not. the republican-controlled court changed the rules in the citizens united case. the afl-cio are making sure workers voices will be heard. we'll not be able to compete with karl rove's american crossroads or with americans for tax reform. the chamber of commerce. we won't touch what they have raise and what they spend. but we'll at least make sure that workers know the truth about this election. we have been doing this for a long time, communicating with our members about who's on what side of the issues. what has happened just recently is that the citizens united decision

the president of the afl-cio, richard trumka, among the speakers. also covering an event with the republican presidential candidate, former utah jon huntsman. he will be speaking in new hampshire. news reports say he will call for sweeping tax changes. we are covering that event and we will show that to you later in our program scheduled. in a moment, president obama's comments from the white house ahead of his speech next week on jobs. also in washington today, the justice department says they have filed a suit to block at&t's $39 billion deal to buy t-mobile. the government contends that the acquisition would reduce competition and raise prices. more details about that later in our program scheduled. as we mentioned, president obama called on congress earlier today to pass a clean extension of the surface transportation bill and the federal aviation administration reauthorization. he spoke at the white house for about 10 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> good morning, everybody. please have a seat. i want to

he is joined by ray lahood the transportation secretary and also richard trumka of the afl-cio, says t together to get some of the jobs done before it is too late. bill: it will be a battle next week when they come back to work on tuesday. martha, no parade for you. union leaders in wisconsin are telling republican lawmakers they are banned from a labor day parade. remember the union battles earlier this year? republicans won in the end but not after democrats fled the state and rallies in madison went on for weeks. pam galloway, republican state senator in wisconsin. you represent the district where the big parade takes place and i understand as of today, or even late last night, that the ban has been lifted, is that true? >> yes it is. so we will be able to attend the parade. bill: so it was a fact that you were barred from attending? your own parade in your own town? >> yes. the republican lawmakers who had been elected last fall had been banned from attending the labor day parade but the labor council reversed their decision. so we'll be able to attend and be there with the folks.

if i were you in the afl-cio, i would not defend those people. good progressive -- >> please stick to the answer of the question. [laughter] >> if she astrays, so can i; right? >> i'm the judge here, you stick to the questions so we can move this along. >> okay. >> people have dinner reservations. [laughter] >> okay. >> do you believe in democracy? >> oh, come on, that's a ridiculous question. >> yes or no, please, yes or no. >> that's like asking if i beat my wife. [laughter] yes, i believe in democracy. >> does a union member have a right to run for public office? >> sure they do. do they have a right to take money without asking the members. >> i'm asking the questions. >> final question. >> okay. so in a democracy people can run for office and they receive campaign contributions, receive support from various people, from corporations, from unions, from individuals and so on. is it your belief that an elected official has no free will and is incapable of remitting his or her constituents given the campaign contributions out there? >> well, you

richard trumpka president of the afl-cio, the largest labor federation.s go on to what you're hoping to hear from the president. it seems there's reporting in "the washington post" a little bit of a split of how big to go and what to put out there. you put out a plan that you're fighting for maybe all the way to november 2012 and put out something you think you can get passed in this congress. >> i think members and the history are going to judge the president on what he does in the next couple of weeks in his leadership on job creation. this is a tough economy. you've got record unemployment, more people living in poverty. they're looking for solutions to problems. he can do it one of two ways. he can be bold and lead and say this is what's necessary to solve the problem. or he can let the tea party lead and let them continue to put out programs that attack the middle class like social security and pretend that deficit reduction is the real problem here when deficit reduction isn't the problem. we have a jobs crisis. that's the problem. >> there is a pol

conference of mayors has joined the afl-cio and interesting enough the u.s.hamber of commerce in support of increasing the gas tax. but if they don't want to do that, they can do innovative financing programs. bonding, and loan programs and incentivize us to put up the money. what we can't do is continue to diter in the way that they've done around the debt and the deficit. what we can't do is put our head in the sand and not acknowledge the fact that the economy -- the best way to give a shot in the arm to the economy is to put people back to work to pay taxes and generate the revenues that we need right now. in our cities we don't have the luxury to engage in the kind of debates that you've seen where democrats won't address entitlements and republicans won't close tax leap hols or raise some taxes on the wealthy. we can do all of that in a way that the simpson-bowles have kind of created a frame wok for. we can do it in a way that incentivizes localities to put up their own money. what we can't do is to continue to debate this without acting on the need to

driving the economy off the cliff altogether, president obama took time this morning to meet with the afl cio. remember, jobs, jobs, jobs. but then after that, president obama met with our nation's defense secretary, leon panetta, why the defense secretary, why today of all days? because under this debt ceiling deal, defense seems to be the biggest item slated for cuts, at least maybe for cuts both in terms of the short-term and in terms of the cuts that would come into play if congress doesn't agree on big generic spending reductions, thus triggering automatic deep cuts, those could account to 10% of the pentagon's annual budget. when president obama chose leon panetta to be his new secretary of defense, not just the cia director, did the president make that choice of mr. panetta in part because he saw changes coming at the pentagon? could we actually be changing course on the single biggest thing in american politics that never really gets debated? the single largest chunk of money in american politics and government, the single biggest thing in american government that affects all of our l

about the same amount came from the national unions like the afl-cio and seiu for democrats and even though four of six democrats failed in the recall challenges, at least one, clark, said it was worth it. [ applause ] >> this is evidence that the democracy still works. >> reporter: his colleague points out two victories are beer than none. >> last night, two republicans were recalled in republican districts. these are republicans that survived the obama wave election. but they couldn't survive the middle class. >> reporter: republicans lost two seat last night but they will have a chance too get them back on tuesday when two democrats face recall. if the g.o.p. wins both of those, their majority will be right back where it was before any of this started. in madison, peter doocy, fox news. >> bret: up next, he is not running, but he is playing a role in iowa this week. we'll talk live with former presidential candidate mike huckabee. [ male announcer imagine all of your missed opportunities in one place. ♪ the front-row tickets you never bought. the lucrative investment you never made

. >> you have a quote from the afl-cio president richard trumka, and he says that referring to the president falls into nibbling around the edges, history will judge him and working people will judge him. even with that strong pushback from liberals and progressives, you have the realities as you point out in your piece that the president has to be able to, i guess, entice, if you will, republicans to see things his way or to see his proposals as effective and the right direction. >> i mean, that is exactly how the white house and the president, himself, and the aides have been positioning this speech that these are ideas that historically, and that is the key word historically that republicans can support. and that is true, but this is a different reality in washington where the historical patterns generally don't apply, and where infrastructure programs that used to be popular cannot get republican support, because it requires government spending even with the disaster aid from the hurricanes is getting pushed back and changing the ways things are done in washington, and those are the real

i mean, if i were you in the afl-cio, the private sector union guys are furious, too. any good progressive -- >> mr. green, please stick to the answer. i'm the judge here. stick to the question. answer the questions we can move this along. people have dinner reservations. [laughter] >> mr. greenhut, do you believe in democracy? >> that's a really ridiculous question. that's like asking if i beat my wife. yes, i believe in democracy. >> do you have a right to run for office just like everybody else? >> sheri dew. >> final question. >> so when a democracy, people can run for office and they receive campaign contributions, support and corporations, unions, it is the juror believes that the lack of official has no free will and the incapable of representing his or her constituents given the campaign conjugations out there? >> well, i know a lot of elected officials and i wouldn't give them much credit for anything. but i do know they are deathly afraid of the public employee unions. mrs. republicans as well as democrats because republicans love the public safety unions. th

. >> one quick point about pennsylvania don't forget the head of the afl-cio came from pittsburgh.mine workers. you've got -- he's got to feel also engaged and they're not happy. >> i want to talk about la boar. what's interesting about la bo here it is a shrinking force in some ways. they have a huge test. they could really come roaring back. roaring back if they pull these recalls back in wisconsin. it seems to be the line labor wants to draw. everybody says we're no longer what we used to be. watch. does that fire them snup. >> the answer is yes, it has to be more than that. the membership is meeting with obama in the next couple of day it's not just pennsylvania. it is wisconsin. it's iowa and it's minnesota and it's michigan. all those states you've got to have labor is the swing vote. >> republican senator lindsey graham who was a no vote one of the 26, i believe no votes on there. in your statement, senator graham, you put it on the trigger. you pit it on this issue of pentagon cuts on philosophical points. you said you feel as if wait a minute, we've gone too far on this. >

it has to do if you focused only on unions that were part of the afl-cio, i raise this because fg, the american figuration of federal employees is involved in a huge campaign right now to represent transportation safety officers and the tsa. and the national treasury employees union has come in very late to vie for that -- for those workers. and i want to know if your research spoke to that at all. specifically because it's one the unions that really having growing in the face of lots of unions dying. >> terrific question. maybe the brothers here would want to speak to that. this is a very important representation election. if we can add amidst the carnage, in the union of their choice, and i personal performance, but it'll be afg seems to have more support in logan and boston and psa and folks that i've talked to and limited traveling that i've done. it's not involved in the book, other than to acknowledge the obama administration did make some changes in the national mediation board election rule that is have supposedly made it easier for us to win elections in the airline industry a

. >> the head of the michigan afl-cio said that for a republican, you are pretty good on labor. why is this a defining issue between -- dividing issue between democrats and republicans, and how will the issue played out in a gop presidential primary? >> for a democrat, i think he is okay, too. high praise indeed. but that is a very relevant statement. there are places i did not look at whether you are in the union or not. i look at whether the situation you are advocating has merit in terms of how it will affect the rest of the community or country. to me, it is an artificial distinction to a large degree. i think that is one of the things that republicans have got away from pure ronald reagan treated everybody as if they were equal because they were. the republican party has to get back to that. my father was a reagan democrat, union member, voted for him. people in our community as i was growing up supported the republican party because they had a host of issue on which they agreed with this, but if we start to tell people that because they are in one organization or another th

chamber of commerce and richard trumka president of the afl-cio. hey practically held hands during their testimony. they were so close together on the way we need to take immediate action to reauthorize this nation's transportation system, so i look forward to this hearing. i look forward to our markup. we are working together on a date before we get out of town here on this summer recess. pray to god all the other things fall into place that we know we have hanging over us but again my deepest thanks and i call on senator inhofe. >> thank you adam chairwoman. i want to put in an editorial from the oklahoman in the record. i think it is very, very good. let me start by commending chairman boxer. as he says we have had a lot of differences in the past, but this one area we don't really have differences. we recognize this is what we are supposed to doing up here and her leadership and dedication and willingness to work together has made this possible and i say the same thing for senator baucus and the rest of the committee. i know senator sessions has

i set down with the afl-cio, a couple of weeks ago and i said explain to me the opposition. they said it is not about jobs, but they're very concerned about the violence against labor leaders in colombia. it is a very violent society. it is getting much less so, but there has been a lot of violence. i need to look at that before ambling to commit. host: gladstone, mich., you're on for the congressman. caller: i was looking at the national debt, and given that the budget committee is meeting, the current debt with china is about 7%, which is about $1.3 trillion. the democrats made it four-year plan to pay off china's debt, the same surplus that clinton had, the republicans would get on board, you would be able to generate tax revenues, unite the whole country, and probably tell china to mind their own business when they talk about purse strings. i would be grateful if we had a four-year agenda to do that, and i would be knocking door-to-door campaigning for the democrats if they would do something that magnanimous. guest: sure. there is no question we need to reduce our debt

chamber of commerce and the afl-cio called annual labor day briefings on u.s. jobs and the economy. earlier today, the white house said that president obama is calling on congress to hold a prime-time address next week, a joint session of congress. he sent a letter to speaker boehner and harry reid asking for the joint session on wednesday, september 7, at 8:00 p.m.. ahead of the, the briefing from the president, the comments on the passing of the transportation bill, and also the faa reauthorization bill. both bills are set to expire at the end of september unless congress renews the legislation. here are the president's comments from earlier. they are about 10 minutes. >> good morning, everybody. please have a seat. i want to say a few words about an issue that affects thousands of american workers, as well as millions of americans to drive on our nation's roads and bridges every single day. at the end of september, if congress does not act, the transportation bill will expire. this bill provides funding for highway construction, a bridge repair, mass transit systems, and other es

joining me on the phone is stephanie bloomingdale, the secretary treasurer for the wisconsin afl-cio.ou for joining us. >> thank you. >> i'm sorry, go ahead. >> go ahead. >> stephanie, i was just about to say this was a referendum of tripping of union rights for state workers. this past march there was a lot of anger in wisconsin. tell us about these results. what do you think? what do these results mean? and what accounts for it? >> last night was a historic fight back for the middle class, and it will go down as in history as a win. we have two new senators, jessica king and jennifer shilling, who are bright starts in the wisconsin state senate. they are going to listen to the people, not corporations like scott walker, and they are going to make sure that scott walker's radical and reckless agenda to cut education, health care and destroy our middle classes checked. >> what do you think this means for democrats' ability to attempt that recall of governor walker in january? >> the recall of scott waller, this is up to the people in wisconsin. this has been a grassroots movement from

but frank and i and a number of other house members wrote to the nmb in support of a petition by the afl-cio to change the way unions can be certified under the national rail labor act. it was that since the 1930's if you had a thousand people in the union, a majority had to vote yes in favor of certification. that seemed odd to us. the rule is now 50 plus one of the people who show up and vote. kind of like the elections we run in every two years. chairman micah's bill in the house attempted to put it back to the old rule. i argued on the floor that i did not think that change was appropriate. frank and i immediately in response to our friend's colorado went to work. we went to the majority leader and the speaker of the house. even the speaker boehner was busy last week with some things you might have read about, he tasked his chief of staff to negotiate with the folks in the senate to see if we could not the ground way to make sure this problem went away before the august recess. a number of offers went back and forth without result. we were not able to work it out. on monday, the vote of

the president this morning had a meeting with the executive committee of the afl-cio which is a majorabor group, union federation out this. and not getting necessarily into the union side of it, but if you were a part of that meeting, what would be your suggestion to to the president on this point of how to get businesses back into spending money again, putting it back into the american economy? >> this first thing that i -- the first thing that i believe the president and washington need to focus on is reforming the tax code. perhaps reforming the tax code could be part of this next step in the debt negotiations, but our tax code is much too complicated, it isn't competitive. that would help small business, it would help big business, and as part of that reform we could encourage companies to bring cash back home. we're the only country in the world that taxes overseas profits in the way that we do. our tax rate is uncompetitive, and yet a lot of big companies don't pay their fair share because there's so many loopholes. so let's reform the tax code, lower the rates, simplify it and

leaders of the group we are ohio and the ohio afl-cio are refusing to meet with kasich before it is repealedejected his offer. but you see back in february, he was singing a different tune during the interview with the right wing talker bill cunningham. >> i know what they're concerned about. i've spoken to them. >> meet with them, governor. >> well, bill, the simple fact of the matter is that a lot of my people that put this stuff together have spoken to them. >> but the governor, you have to get in a room with him, governor. >> bill, bill, let me explain to you. i'm not going to put you in a position to say i don't listen. i've listened. i've heard. >> the governor is done talking. you're walking. >> it's time to do some things. >> time to do some things. well, that's exactly what the democrats are saying now, mr. kasich. kasich is right. the time for talking is over and millions of vote letters walk into the voting booth and repeal in november. "the ed show" will be there in september for the million class work here's are fighting the good fight. next up, rush limbaugh turns into the cook

the unions, more than a dozen trade unions affiliated with the afl-cio are upset with the administration not creating jobs. so now they're sitting it out. what does this mean? stuart varney is here to break it all down. stuart, first of all, why would they pick north carolina to hold their convention, what's the point of it? >> very good question, isn't it? president obama won north carolina by the slimmest of margins in 2008. it may be that they wanted to shore up his position going into 2012, hold the convention in charlotte, north carolina, shore up your position in that state. that may have been the rational. either way, it's not working. this is shaping up to be a significant embarrassment for president obama because, as you said, 12 unions in the building and construction trades, they have threatened, threatened to stay away and the international machinists have said we're not going. >> so they've only threatened so far, right? some of them could still change their mind, is that what we're hearing? >> they've written a letter saying we're not going to come. >> there's a reason i as

expected to be joined by transportation secretary ray lahood, richard trumka was the president of the afl-cio, and the chief operating officer of the chamber of commerce, david chavern. a number of others. live coverage in just a couple of minutes when the president will right here in the white house rose garden on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> again we are live at the white house rose garden a waiting president obama. he's expected to talk about the importance of extending the surface transportation projects bill. the president called on congress to pass a clean extension of the bill which expires at the end of september, as well as a federal aviation administration reauthorization which expires in mid-september. the present i

signed but what caught a lot of people's attention for people worried is the meeting the president had with afl-cioicials, some reading into that he is sort of reworking the base. that has the likes of governor barbour who will step down from the fine state of mississippi, his views on that and what is at stake. governor, what do you make of that meeting and the timing? >>guest: well, look, i can't comment on the timing of the meeting, it may have been landed for six months but the fact you talk about trying to secure one's base, the labor unions are the primary financiers of the democratic party. they have to be disappointed when you have an overwhelming democrat house, overwhelming democrat senate, 60 votes in the senate and they could not pass card check and i suppose the president was telling them, give me another chance and we will pass car check. i don't think they will ever get that passed because the huge democratic majorities know they are not right. that is not fair. not right. jerry brown of california would tell you that is not right. people need the right to a secret ballot. that is so

after president obama became the president in support of a petition by the afl-cio to change the way that unions can be certified under the national rail labor act. it was, back since the 1930's that if you had 1,000 people in the union the rule was that a majority of those 1,000 had to vote yes in favor of certification. that seemed a little odd to us and the n.m.b. changed the rule that it's now 50-plus-one of the people who show up and vote kind of like the elections that we all run in every two years. chairman mica's bill in the house revoked or attempted to put it back to the old rule. i sponsored the amendment and argued on the floor that i didn't think that that change was appropriate. frank and i immediately in response to our friend's call went to work and we went to the majority leader and we went to the speaker of the house and even though speaker boehner was busy last week with some things that you might have read about he tasked his chief of staff, barry jackson, to negotiate with the folks in the senate, to see if we couldn't figure out a way to make sure that this prob

meanwhile, the afl-cio will have their annual labor day event, and we will cover that as well. in politics, republican presidential candidate jon huntsman is said to make the jobs announcement tomorrow. he is campaigning in new hampshire. we will cover that event with jon huntsman and have that later in our program schedule. congress returns a week from today, but work is already underway. republican members of the deficit reduction committee are meeting today. they have appointed a staff director. that was the committee that was created as part of the recent compromise to raise the debt ceiling. by law, that panel is required to approve a plan by november 23 to cut to $2 trillion in federal deficits over 10 years through spending cuts and tax measures. republicans on the committee include representatives in japan's ruling, who is leading the republican meeting today, -- representatives jeb hensarling, who is leading the meeting today, and dave camp, senator pat toomey. on the democratic side, xxavier becerra, john kerry, max baucus. want to let you know about the live coverage

among those participating include former hotel york times" columnist bob herbert, and the head of the afl-cio, richard trumka. a number of events that we have covered this week -- we have a link on our front page. go to c-span.org. >> kindly take your seats. our program will begin soon. >> good afternoon, and welcome to the dr. martin luther king jr. national memorial women who dare to dream luncheon. please welcome to the stage comedian jonathan slocum. >> hello. you have to do better than that. give me some love, women. this is called women who dare to dream. but we hear some women who dare to wear high heels, and their feet are hurting right now. -year you would be in the building. whenever people who love black women get together, there is only one thing decanted as look at your neighbor and say neighbor, you look good, but i look better. [laughter] >> go ahead and said, because i know you meant it. i have a very special tribute to do. i am taking this liberty. i did not usually do podiums, but i will do it today. i believe that black women specifically, and we are not being prejudiced or

16% their community wants more from the president and labor leaders criticized the president on jobs, too. here's afl-cio president richard trumka. >> i think you made a strategic mistake when he confused job crisis with the deficit crisis. a number of months ago. when he would talk about job creation and in the same sentence talk about deficit reduction, and people got the two confused, and he helped with that. >> the president will address union pleas when he visits detroit on labor day. but could dissatisfaction among these core members of obama's constituency put his re-election in jeopardy? the member of the congressional black caucus and ed schultz the host of aef the ed show." make it clear. talking about turnout when we think of this problem for candidate obama. we're not thinking whether he garners the vast majority of the vote or the labor vote? >> correct. had you look add obama's slogan, fired up and ready to go. they're ready to go but certainly not fired up. and though they may still have hope, they don't see change. because of that you're going to see a lot of people, who, yes, he's the af

when president obama and other administrations here the entire afl-cio, that represents host: susan, republican, dallas, go ahead. caller: morning. sorry. yes. what i was calling about, i had thought before i was listening to everyone else. the federal government, when it comes to federal employees, i would definitely support upset. -- i would definitely support that. they get more pay than your average accountant or receptionists. it seems to us, in the private sector, everywhere else in the usa, the benefits that are hanging on, to us, from some of them a different perspective, coming to not quite the job of callers, as was said before, about not being there or having to care, because they know that the job will always be there. like i said, i know that the professional ones that you are talking about are not paid up to snuff. your every day people are. host: i travel around the country. -- guest: i travel around the country. when i talk to people in meetings, it is incredible how dedicated they are. how much they care and how much they give. it is hard to combat those prejudices' a

the rick perry, ron paul, and thaddeus mccotter. and about 40 minutes, at a forum on jobs and social justice hosted by afl-cio. ♪ >> texas gov. ck perry says president obama may have inherited that the economy, but has made it worse. he spoke at the polk county republican party fund-raiser over the weekend. he was introduced by simon conway, who presented him with a holster. later, we will hear from other gop presidential candidate. the entire event is about 45 minutes. ♪ [applause] >> good afternoon. >> i know this is on usual. you will understand and a minutes. before we get going, i have to do something. if you'll just bear with me for a moment, i would appreciate it. i made a promise to one of our veterans. in addition to being a veteran, he tells me he is a servant of god. he is also a craftsman. he wrote to me this take andy told me that he wanted to attend today, but he does not doubt very much these days. this is what he said. gov. rick perry has got my attention with some of his comments. by the way, governor, this is iowa. i do not know if i am going to support him yet, but i wanted to give him some encouragement as

happened and i have a dream, which he had been preaching for years, usually the black audience, but he preached once at an afl-cio convention, these ethnic types are not big at obama's experience or lofty language. they like practical literacy. king is really soaring with them. but he think what happened at i have a dream, even before the haley at jackson said tell them about the train, martin because she had been with king at a black focused march that aretha franklin, cl franklin, so that was fresh in her mind. what happened is right before that, it came turned to the black civil rights workers that come from without. and right before he goes flying, he says that in his prepared remarks i believe. he said i know some of you have come here from trials and tribulations and there is something about the biblical language and a return to the veteran accreted suffering, which were really his people. they were the people he felt was like jesus. i know you're asking how long. usually doing a social network on the affected key people to collectively mobilize to believe it's rational to keep doing it. he says in a brief

trumka, head of afl-cio, unions represent 6.9% of workers that guy said he's in the white house everye white house everyday. valley were on the phone to the white house everyday. that's where the answers lie, not talking to voters in iowa, -- >> greta: i'm very impatient in terms of getting jobs to the american people. if we did what you said, got rid of the regulations, how fast could things turn around? people need jobs, we can wait. >> it really slow. you've got that big aircraft -- >> greta: a year? >> as a percentage of the workforce it is not going to change overnight. when you talk about bending that cost curve on obamacare, you have to bernd the curve of unemployment. all of wall street, all of investment just looks at that whip end, up or down? better or worse than expected? if you get that change and it starts to be noticed by investors and business, suddenly, they have new hope. and they think it is getting better instead of worse. like i said, capitalism is operatism -- is optimism monetized. with obama's policies though -- >> greta: always nice to see you. is george cloon

the president will be flanked today in the rose garden by his transportation secretary, ray lahood, as well as labor leader, afl-ciowhite house says renewing the transportation bill which expires at the end of september, will save about 1 million jobs. in part today's remarks from the rose garden will be a precursor to the president's economic and jobs creation plan that he'll talk about next week. this transportation bill faces a fight in congress. the democratically controlled senate is ready to extend the bill for two years at a cost of $109 billion. but the gop-controlled house wants a six-year extension and they want it completely paid for with money already coming in in the form of gasoline taxes. this all likely will play into a larger battle on the hill this fall. the president wanting more spending. he says to help lift the economy. and republicans, including top senate gop leader mitch mcconnell, arguing that more spending is making the debt and economic situation worse. senator mcconnell said in texas yesterday, quote, if government spending worked, we'd be in a boom. he, meaning the president, cannot fi