of the middle east. so i think we were all taken by surprise. once the arab spring unfolded, you take a country like tunisia where the u.s. doesn't have a strong relationship is not very much embedded in tunisia, you see the debates there about ben ali's exile were not muired with this debate -- were not mired with what will the debate look like, what will a future tunisian government led by the muslim brother or hood or any orr political movement what will that look like? i think we were far more concerned about what was going to happen in egypt. if mubarak steps down who will replace mubarak? if the muslim brotherhood -- and immediately the debates shifted to will the military stay intact in egypt and will we still have those close relationships with the military in egypt? will the united states still have close relationships with the military in and the second debate that ensued was will the muslim brotherhood win the elections? and a lot of people argued initially in the early days of the arab spring

and iran's influence spreads across the middle east. but is the obama administration fighting against iran or alongside it? >> we have put intense pressure on extremists inside of yemen. and it has mitigated the threat they pose to the u.s. and the west. >> our closest allies in the region no longer trust us. they believe that we are siding with iran. >> as the white house presses for a nuclear deal with iran, is the middle east on the brink of regional war? and what is the u.s. strategy? we'll ask the former director of the defense intelligence agency lieutenant general michael flynn. >>> then as the republican presidential field starts getting crowded, how will candidates stand out. we'll talk with the only woman and only former ceo among the gop hopeful. carly fiorina. >>> plus, harry reid is getting out while ted cruz gets in. >> i am announcing that i'm running for president of the united states. >> our sunday group discusses a busy week in politics. >>> and our power player of the week. ted kennedy's widow, vicki on bringing her hu

as policies to restore the strength of the middle class. nd on his right is melissa boteach. melissa is the vice president of the program of american progress. in this capacity she oversees american progress and analysis as well as the campaign to cut poverty in half in 10 years project. melissa served as the policy lead on the shriver report, a book and multimedia platform by maria shriver and cap about the one in three women living in or on the brink of poverty, and the public private and personal solutions to help the nation push back. we also have here senate majority leader loretta weinberg from new jersey. she serves on the state committee and the government committee. she is a former member on the senate congress committee and the senate judiciary committee. to her left is representative jessica farrar from texas. representative farrar is currently serving her tenth term as state representative district 148. she was first elected in 1994 at the age of 27. she is the longest serving hispanic member from harris county in the texas house

we know they're a bad actor across the middle east. about general flynn who is basically saying, stop. don't continue down this road with the iranians? >> well, real skepticism is warranted, chris. >> no, but he's saying more than real skepticism. he is saying break it off. >> if we can't get an agreement that has real teeth in it, we shouldn't have an agreement. the problem is, the alternative isn't exactly a walk in the park either. really at the end of the day it's probably the use of force, which is a euphemism for going to war against iran. there are real consequences to that which would be adverse to the united states. when it comes down to it, the two questions are, are we willing to accept a iranian -- nuclear iran. if the answer to that is really no, which it should be, are we prepared to deal with that now or are we going to put it off and force our children to deal with it at some point that's more favorable to iran? so the bottom line is if it's a bad deal, the general is right, no deal. and we consider our options. >> matt

leaving the middle east the u.s. is still very much on the ground in the middle east both militarily and economically so the u.s. is entrench fed the middle east as well into what's your background. >> guest: my background, i'm an arab american. i was born and raise nets the u.s. but my parents immigranted from palestine. >> host: where were you raised? where did grew to could. >> guest: i was ratessed in the united states and also grew up on the west bank. i finished high school on the west bank. >> host: where did you good to college. >> guest: i went to college -- graduated ucla, my undergreat what, and then grad waited the university of michigan for my ph.d. >> host: how long haveow been at princeton and that do you teach. >> guest: this ills now my 13th year at princeton. i teach politics of the middle east. >> host: and when students come in what do you hope they take out of that class? >> guest: so, it's really funny. on average i get a -- the majority of my students really know very little about the middle ea

his work focused on the middle class and policies to restore the strength of the middle class. and on his right is melissa boteach. she oversees american progress as poverty policy development and analysis as well as the half and ten the campaign to cut poverty in half in ten years project. melissa served as the policy lead on the schreiber report, a book by maria shriver about the one in three women living in or on the brink of poverty and the public and private solutions to help the nation push back. we also have here senate majority leader loretta weinberg from the senior citizens committee and former part of the senate committee and judiciary committee and on her level is representative jessica farrar, from district 148. she was first elected in 1994 at the age of 27. she's the longest serving hispanic member in the texas house of representatives. she is the vice chair of the judiciary committee and member of the state affairs committee. she is founder of the women's health caucus and serves as the chair. so i'm going to turn it over now to david to talk a little bit about w

and charles schmidt of the middle east is it too has the latest on the unrest in yemen. -- middle east has the latest on the unrest in yemen. "washington journal" live every day on c-span. >> president obama delivers the keynote address monday at the formal dedication ceremony of the edward m. kennedy institute. other speakers include vice president joe biden, massachusetts governor elizabeth warren and governor charlie baker. the institute will chronicle kennedy's time in congress. it includes a full-scale replica of the senate chambers. here is the late senator delivering his speech at harvard about eight months before he died. ted kennedy: 50 years ago, i manage a successful campaign with a john f. kennedy. although i certainly did not anticipate at the time, i had been deeply honored to hold the same seat he had for some 46 years. during my service in the united states senate, i have often been called a liberal. and it usually was not meant to be a compliment. [laughter] ted: i remember what my brother said about liberalism shortly before he was elected president. he said, "if by a

no one wants to be in the middle east obviously. but when a threat is gathering that seeks to destroy america, it must be dealt with. that used to be our philosophy. it affects all of us. one thing, smash the caliphate. smash it. militarily. isis is not an 800-pound gorilla. a formidable foe, yes, in the middle east. but when the u.s. military puts their minds to something they take care of business. they need the political will to get this thing done. i believe if president obama laid out a compelling case to the american people about why we needed some ground presence in iraq and syria right now and why we needed to snuff out this movement crush it now i believe the american people would rally behind him. i don't think it's going to happen though, folks. i don't think much is going to change before 2016. i hate to be a bees mist. don't worry -- to be a pessimist. don't worry, i'll end on an on optimistic note, but i'm a realist. what would also be a beautiful thing, which i also don't think is going to happen, would be to see a tru

the middle class really is the engine of economic growth. as a part of that engagement, cap has been reaching out to state legislators to examine how organization can aid the progressive policy movements at the state and local level. in december of last year we convened an excellent and productive conversation to discuss an organized around reducing gun violence protection and state policy opportunities that actually exist at the state level. additionally through our c4 arm, cap action fund we continue to base our work with state-based advocates by holding summits on numerous issues to the progressive movement, including middle class economics, voting rights, women's economic security, climate change, and again, criminal justice issues. with cap's continued and expanding focus on policy opportunities at the state and local level, we are very very excited about working with new organizations and all great people involved in state advocacy. in fact organizations like the state innovation exchange or siex. majority leader loretta weinberg from

as policies to restore the strength of the middle class. nd on his right is melissa boteach. melissa is the vice president of the program of american progress. in this capacity she oversees american progress and analysis as well as the campaign to cut poverty in half in 10 years project. melissa served as the policy lead on the shriver report, a book and multimedia platform by maria shriver and cap about the one in three women living in or on the brink of poverty, and the public private and personal solutions to help the nation push back. we also have here senate majority leader loretta weinberg from new jersey. she serves on the state committee and the government committee. she is a former member on the senate congress committee and the senate judiciary committee. to her left is representative jessica farrar from texas. representative farrar is currently serving her tenth term as state representative district 148. she was first elected in 1994 at the age of 27. she is the longest serving hispanic member from harris county in the texas house

the truth of the matter is it is those consumers largely in the middle class who are the job creators in this country. if there is no middle class, then there is nobody to buy all the great things that our businesses sell and manufacture. all the business stuff just goes out the door. so it is important that we do focus on the middle class. and no more better place to do that is through investment in infrastructure. so we may disagree with how we get there. you have taken a very important first step in recognizing the need to invest in a critical infrastructure that keeps everything going across the

without labor unions, we would not have the strength of the middle class today. it is no accident that in the post-world war ii period when you saw average incomes rise in the 1950's, 1960's 1970's, you saw average incomes rise for workers, sure enough you saw the percentage of the american work force unionized also increase. it is also no accident that as the percentage of the american work force unionized declined, so too, did average wages. to the point where we are today where we have had a 20-year period in which the middle class wages are stagnant, in which the working class is actually falling behind, and no surprise, we actually have the lowest percentage of the work force unionized today in over 70 years. . mr. speaker, let's stand up for the middle class. let's stand up for our workers. let us reject this anti-labor anti-union, anti-worker measure and let's start fighting and working for those who are working for america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you. is the chairman p

to initiate the process it is important whoever is initially that process to build a middle school pathway have the knowledge and pathway from the middle-income to blgd this forward it is parrot of their responsibilities and duties. >> i'd like to make an amendment to the proposal to raise the fte for this particular line item for betsey carmichael and long fell from .2 to .4 fte and i'd like to ask my colleagues if there's a second. >> second. >> can i ask a question. >> yes. >> you - i thought that was another part to the suggestion in addition .2 i'd like to make sure that is part of the motion or make an amendment. >> taking away from 9 world language at the elementary school and developing initially the protocol but as we mentioned and discussed this is particularly connected to the middle school multi points there's a .4 allocation so in total the flexibility of allowing a .6 individual to do that work looking at both the elementary school and middle school. >> yeah. i'm not going to support - i'm not going to support the motion because i don't support of the second part i don't want

a thoughtful and meaningful way we've heard from the principle there ounce because a pathway at the middle school level but no longer we want to understand why it one way or another was not sustainable how to make that sustainable and making sure if there's targets at the elementary school 0 into the high school so the use of a .4 ftes allows us to support and planning and part of the planning also look at potential fiscal input by the next spring this is what we need to make sure the pathway is viable and those are the materials and resources and the types of allocation we'll need so it is so critical at this point we have been spending the last 5 years really trying to make sure our pathways are a strong and we go through the program plummet process and the facilities to school impact curriculum we want to be able to have an opportunity to do that for this pathway. >> i'm sorry can you ask a followup question if you bump it up to .4 with $26,000 are we're going to be be able to develop this program is that one person that develops each of the areas 1.4042 ftes will this person be respons

real, sustainable economic growth is built from the middle out, not from the top down. it is absurd to put forward a budget plan that asks middle-class and working families to shoulder these deep and painful cuts while giving the wealthiest americans and biggest corporations a pass. i am concerned the budget breaks the promises we made to our seniors and families. i am still reading through the details of this budget that i know many of us are ready to fight back against any republican plan to reduce the deficit on the back of the middle class and most honorable families or cut the benefits so many seniors have earned and depend on. i will be ready to offer amendments that will lay out my priorities and what i believe will be best for my washington state constituents and families i represent. i know that republicans now control congress and the -- that it is their job to write and pass the budget and want you to know howard doors open and i urge you to work with us on a bipartisan deal before we start cruising toward another needless crisis. thank you. chairman: thank yo

and are we under the verge of a regional war in the middle east? have for a long time. it is not about yemen or tikrit or iraq, it is about the greater middle east. and we are facing an arab revolt. and the poor american firepower services and poor american firepower services, the navy and the air force are being tugged one way and the other. on the one hand, you're bombing for the shiia over tikrit on the other hand you're bombing for the sunnis over in yemen this whole thing is a dog's breakfast. i feel sorry for the military men who are going to the administration and talking about the long-term strategy and the wisdom of dropping bombs willie nilly across the middle east without any positive outcome. and i this that's what has the people in the military most concerned. general always a pleasure to have you, thank you so much. >>> family members pleaded for her return and after a 29-year-old woman was found safe police now say her kidnapping was all a hoax. she was in on it. more on this bizarre case ahead. >>> a northern california woman disapp

the middle east is always in ferment. but today a defense department official was quoted in "the wall street journal" asking who is going to be the person that shoots the arch duke of the middle east? igniting a new world war i. and with the events, with the negotiations in geneva over iran's nuclear program, and the events in yemen, i think it could hardly be a better time to discuss the role that the middle east and iran are playing in american politics. i are goal to david first to kick off the discussion. >> well, thank you very much. good afternoon. it's a pleasure to be here. i think it's been observed -- the observation i've heard most frequently since i arrived here is that the center for national interests is the best lunch buffet of anyplace in town, and i have to agree with that. i do also want to make a brief side comment before i dive in. several weeks ago i made a pledge not to appear on any panels that did not include women. unfortunately i see that there's one woman at the table but -- i think we can do a l

it is a strange to have events in the middle east. at the same time, of course, we are opposed to what iran is doing in syria and lebanon and the palestinian territory. so a lot of the big problems for the united states -- and that is why i want the united states to remain involved in the middle east so that iran doesn't become a power. host: robert, texas, a republican. caller: yes, good morning. ambassador burns. i am sure you know neville chamberlain. i think if you listen to the news this morning -- and i haven't heard the full details -- but nbc's ann curry has interviewed sharif. he has obviously been carrying on negotiations with john kerry. when post with the question two how does he feel about the statement about destroying israel, he supports that. he openly supports that with the -- with his interview. how can you not believe that what he says that the most important thing he has to do with is the open and willful destruction of israel -- how can you sit there and continue to be a pacifist as our president is? guest: well, y

nuclear weapons on the ground in the middle east. we're certainly going to have put nuclear weapons there if we want the host countries not to get their own nuclear weapons. >> david. david rothkopf: first of all i'm not explicitly calling for containment, i'm calling for counterbalances. if the iranians make real progress, adhere to this agreement, stop doing the other things that they're doing behave in a more constructive way that they could, you know, grow in international standing in ways that wouldn't be bad provided we were counterbalancing them. so i use counterbalance rather than contain, but it's all conditional on them actually doing those things. they have shown no inclination to do those things thus far. a i think we need to be very beady eyed and very results and evidence-oriented in this regard and you're right, it's become political. having said that, i can't help i but point out that to a large degree, the political problems that we're having -- well, the political problems we're having in washington cannot be blamed

is there any hope of peace in the middle east? ne, is to democracy possible in the region given the religious overtones of the iran and the saudi arabian institutions? host: thank you for the call. we just spent one hour on the question. we have left them a minute left. guest: saudi arabia and iran are both self or climbed islamic states. one is a monarchy and what is a partial electoral system that has been very active and has caused differences in regime change. whether it is possible, i don't think the role of religion will stop them -- will stop democracy. look at tunisia, the islamic party to go over and democracy prevailed. islam is not an impediment -- in impediment to democracy. it is for competing parties to respect institutions and believe in institutions that is the goal. host: should the u.n. get involved -- will be you and get involved? -- did -- will they you and get involved. guest: they have played a key role in this. host: in the short term, what do you expect in the country? guest: i am not sure. i suspect we will

he says iran is the principal danger in all of the middle east. joining us tonight james woolsey, former director of the central intelligence agency and chairman of the foundation for defense of democracies. good to have you with us. >> good to be with you, lou. lou: this assessment on iran. apparently it is the minority view among the president's advisers or he is simply overridden all of his advisers what do you make first of all of sending a message directly to the iranian people when this president hasn't sought approval or consensus with congress or with the american people themselves. >> i don't think it's appropriate at all the way he did it. it sounded like he was in a chicago city council meeting and he's talking to the other party and he says look, you've got hard-liners, i've got hard-liners, we can get together and get something done. he seems to be pretending he's doing chicago politics whereas he's talk to an institution, the iranian state that really more than anything else wants to destroy us and israel and they're not kidding. lou:

you don't get to the middle class that way either. rri: right. >> we to free up money and give people in the private sector to spend it. gerri: i haven't heard velocity of money since i was in business school. >> yeah. gerri: peter, get to one of the facts from a pew research survey i found fascinating today. 30% of the americans say their finances have yet to recover from the recession. that recession, six years in our rear view mirror. when will americans stop feeling the hurt? >> when he start getting more and better of paying jobs. median family income is lower today than when mr. obama took office. lower than just before the financial crisis. things simply haven't recovered. there is a lot of anecdotal evidence, low wage jobs, mcdonald's jobs are paying a little better. middle class wages have not moved. local and state governments take a bigger bite out of taxes and everything is harder to do with the terrible bureaucracy he put on us. if you want a waiver from the health care mandate because you have a good reason the form is 12

iran is the most stable country in the middle east, have the most highly educated population in the middle east. iran is not suicidal. they would never -- this braggadocio about the destruction of israel is just talk. i don't know why we would take this seriously. if people keep harping on 1979, when they took our hostages, go back to 1953. google on the history channel, when the cia overthrew mossa degh, the duly directed -- duly elected leader of iran, and install the shah, and torture and thousands of iranians disappeared until they overthrew him. people want to act like our relationship with iran started in 1979. they have reason to hate us. they would never use nuclear weapons. the whole question is ridiculous. thank you. host: lydia in upper marlboro maryland. several members of the administration and congress were on sunday shows yesterday talking about the potential deal that could be in the works with iran over limits to their nuclear program. one of those white house officials was white house spokesman josh earnest and he was what he had to say expressing his optimism that a deal

it's a speech in the middle of the day.e on the news tonight but we know that americans are watching news in decreasing numbers. the effect on public opinion is hard to gauge, but i think benjamin netanyahu did about as well as one could have hoped from his point of view. >> he was, john, denouncing the very deal that president and the secretary of state john kerry are in switzerland currently negotiating. do you expect his forceful words to have an impact on how those talks proceed. >> i don't. remember, it's not just the united states, it's our partners in the p5 plus 1 including britain and france and others, that is going to proceed. those talks are gq÷a to proceed and rise or fall, i think, on their own merits. i don't think this speech in and of itself is enough to derail that deal, but it was a very good moment for opponents of the deal and benjamin netanyahu was voicing a lot of concerns that republican members of voice about the foreign policy it's naive, not forceful enough, and he seemed to think that the preside

see an agreement that this administration is cooking up that will be extremely destabilizing to the middle east will pave the way to an iranian nuclear weapon and they're doing what they can to kill the negotiations kill this deal, and force the administration and the european allies to start over with a more reasonable policy. i hope there will be more gestures like this by the u.s. congress. >> aren't they bound to see what's in it first? >> that's a fake argument the obama administration is making. we know what's in the deal ray. the "washington post" is a good example. there's going to be a large number of centrifuges, iran will continue to be able to enrich and work in a plutonium plant. >> does this in your view undercut the president? >> it totally undercuts the president. that was the intention. i think it's really senator cotton and his colleagues who should do a careful read of the constitution because jefferson and alexander hamilton and james madison intended for the congress to advise and consent in foreign policy within our political system. not to go out and directly deal wi

it will only change the middle east for the worst. a deal that is supposed to prevent nuclear proliferation would instead spark nuclear arms race in the most dangerous part of the planet. this deal won't be a farewell to arms. it would be a farewell to arms control. the middle east would soon be crisscrossed by nuclear trip wires. a region where small skirmishes trigger big wars would turn into a nuclear tinderbox. if anyone thinks this deal kicks the can down the road, think again. when we get down that road, we'll face a much more dangerous iran. a middle east littered with nuclear bombs and a countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare. ladies and gentlemen, i've come here today to tell you we don't have to bet the security of the world on the hope that iran will change for the better. we don't have to gamble with our future and with our children's future. we can insist that restrictions on iran's nuclear program not be lifted for as long as iran continues its aggression in the region and in the world. [ applause ] before lifting th

weakness dee gets disaster. >> emac, when you think of what's going on in the middle east, you add nuks to that, the iranians are in prak after we spilled our blood and treasure on that country, you add nuke to this and this is awful. >> this is really awful. ten middle eastern countries have expressed interest in uk near energy which is the first step towards a bomb egypt, turkey, bahrain and the uae. the i wish issue is who is going to sanction saudi arabia if they do this? israel will not possibly do military strikes to saudi arabia, it has the holiest is that riens in the muslim world so they would be -- have to avoid that. i will tell you something, david, the fwakt that saudi arabia has agreements also with three other countries besides south korea to look into nuclear cooperation that's very telling. >> sabrina, it's beginning to make that republican letter look better, isn't it? >> yeah, well yeah i'm concerned about this, just like everyone else on the panel i think, and i was talking to catherine herridge from fox news and she was saying, look just talking about enrichment wil

most critical thinking to have to happy with the youngest challenged age of our school district the middle grades that's why i met with mr. benny hoff a couch years ago and asked him to make the biggest education investment investment they could possibly do he's done with with our promises and teachers be principle hobnobbing so that you're in the line of middle school principles that embraces our schools i know you treasure and stanley have us visit every grades on a periodic basis to make sure our creatorors are creating the kinds of things this the future that critical thinking is possible the stem thinking is future the 2025 is a future for our world-class city that's why the investment a happening and that's why we've gone beyond the benny hoff foundation and asked all the 2 thousand technology companies to circle our schools in doing so they said okay. if you invite us to p do that mayor ed lee what are you going to do well today's announcement is more than the opening of the school the anticipation this willie brown jr. middle school will be the 9th beacon center for the city and co

the middle east will have nuclear trip wires. small skirmishes can trigger big wars and turn into a tinderbox. if finish thinks this deal kicks the can down the road think again. when we get down that road we will face a much more dangerous iran a middle east littered with nuclear bombs and a countdown to a potential fluke clear nightmare. nuclear nightmare. ladies and gentlemen, i have come here today to tell you we don't have to bet the security of the world on the hope that iran will change for the better. we don't have to gamble with our future and with our children's future. we can insist that restrictions on iran's nuclear program not be listed for as long as iran continues its aggression in the region and in the world [applause]. >> before lifting the restrictions the world should demand that iran do three things first stop its aggression against its neighbors against the middle east. second, [applause]. second stop supporting terrorism around the world. [applause]. >> and third stop threatening to annihilate my country isr

in the middle east it is true that the settlement made in the middle east enraged a lot of arab opinion, except in egypt where there was a deeply rooted nationalist movement. but otherwise, it was more elite opinion. there was a sense among the arabs they have been promised independent states and have been betrayed. that fatally gets mixed up with the establishment of a jewish homeland in palestine, which is seen as part of the same betrayal. the presence of the jews in palestine comes to be the symbol of the betrayal of the arabs and the meddling by outside powers in a way which does not help the jews coming to palestine. i do think what was done in 1919 and subsequent years, because the peace settlement in the middle east to go while to work out and the united states was not much involved when wilson became sick, the united states to longer have strong interest there. it was not an ideal settlement. again, it is difficult. this was a time of empire. people making decisions in the west tended to think they could dispose of peoples around the world the way they wished. it would have tak

widely defined middle-class, what issues are confronting the american middle class today? the number one issue? c-span is here. dead time is not good on tv, i am telling you. yes? >> income. ehrlich: what do you mean, as far as income? >> based on what people make per year. ehrlich: weight stability. we have, as you know, in this country today, a sort of wage use. you have wages that have really not gone up for a long time. so we have the middle-class kind of stuck. that is why you have all these politicians playing to the middle class. everyone wants to play the middle-class. does the minimum wage speak to the middle class? why do some politicians talk about the middle class in the context of the minimum wage? they are trying to change the subject, right? real income growth has not been good in this country for the last eight years, 10 years. that is one issue. people feel stuck. it feels as though life is not improving. jp, what is the number one issue for you? introduce yourself, please. jp: i think security. ehrlich: how do you define it? jp: immigration, probably. i

especially in the greater middle east. ist financing has been good, to a large extent, the terrorists are ahead in terms of being able to innovate how to move money. and the most important thing is that the global order now has challenges. one, they are you -- states that continue to harbor terrorists and two, states that are falling to or are hijacked by terrorist in increasing numbers. technology, such as the internet, are being used by extremists all over the world without a counter strategy in place. above all, while the people involved in terrorism got identified by osama bin laden, who everyone knew was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack, while they have been identified, fought and brought to justice, there is no global method to be able to take preventative steps to make sure that those who are emerging as the terrorist leaders of the future can actually be identified and stop for they are organized and i think, for example, took many people by surprise. people had been studying and analyzing the geology takin

the middle east is always in ferment. y, it -- defense department officials were quoted in the wall street journal asking, " who is going to be the person who shoots the archduke of the middle east, igniting a new world war one." with negotiations in geneva and the events in yemen, i think it is hardly a better time to discuss the role that the middle east and iran are playing in american politics. i will go to david first. david rothkopf: thank you, it is a pleasure to be here. the observation i have heard most frequently since i arrived that the center of national interest has the best lunch of any place in town. i have to agree with that. i do also want to make a brief side, before i dive in. several weeks ago, i made a pledge not to appear on any panels that did not include women. unfortunately, i see that there is not one woman at this table. but, -- good, i think we can do a lot to enrich -- well, yes. it is true. move closer to the table. i hope you are not diminishing my point, which is, i think there must be more

bad trade deals exacerbate the rising inequality, middle class families struggle to get by. the it's all about corporate handouts and worker sellouts. over four decades worker productivity rose 75%, wages rose 9%. what that says, since -- since 1946 into the reagan years productivity went like this and workers were this much more productive and wages stayed parallel to that. since the reagan years as productivity went up, worker wages have been flat except for the 1%, the richest 1% saw their wages explode their salaries explode, everybody else lived in an economy where things just don't get better. the report of the commission on inclusive prosperity chaired by larry summers concluded powerful forces must be navigated or inequalities will continue to widen and for many low skill work will become the norm. fast tracking proposals like t.p.p. without congressional input and without congressional knowledge let alone public knowledge of this, without congressional input without oversight, even the bare facts of the deal reduces our ability to navigate the forces of globalization

and the middle earners would see almost no effect. considering the results of this study, can you explain the policies aimed at the middle class. >> i think that over time they have done a lot of good work. i think the anal cyst is just not based on the best data availability. i think they're looking at a few provisions like the financial services fee, and stepped up bases incorrectly in terms of traces how it will flow through to families that are middle class families. i think technically it is not correct, and we have data that shows it is not correct. >> so you're disagreeing? >> i disagree with the analysis here. we have policies that have demonstrable benefit to families, that is when it reflects what you're trying to accomplish. i don't think that it will flow down and hurt families like it suggests. >> as a result, they have announced that they would borrow and take on more debt to finance the acquisitions. chaquita had to close down their nard headquarters and eliminate hundreds of jobs. this is because of an ill conceived con

arms race in the entire middle east the most volatile region in the world. we have to be more aggressive with sanctions that were working to ratchet those sanctions up and stop iran from getting a nuclear weapons capability. because that's what they want to do and they've said they want to eviscerate israel from the planet. one of the things the prime minister said was, at a minimum, iran's got to stop saying they've want to eliminate israel from the face of the earth. they have to back it up with actions that they're going to stop sponsoring terrorism throughout the world. those are very basic things they should do that they refuse to do this day. >> congressman, appreciate your time. >> thanks jaiblg. >>> let's just say there wasn't applause on the streets of tehran as benjamin netanyahu gave his speech. but what effect did it have on the talks going on right now in switzerland as the naukuclear deadline with iran approaches. our own jim sciutto is there, and he's live next. many people clean their dentures with toothpaste or plain water. and even though t

also the middle east in widening conflict. saudi arabia and egypt backed by other gulf states carrying out airstrikes against iranian backed shia rebels who ousted the president of yemen. and in iraq, president obama as ordered us fighter jets to carry out airstrikes in support of iran in the battle for tikrit. president obama has yet to explain his contradictory foreign policy decisions or his strategy. critics fear he's prepared to accept far too little in order to claim a nuclear deal that will give iran far too much. we take up the obama middle east policy and the escalating conflicts there with fox news military analyst major general bob scales. and richard you grenel. clifford and judith miller. we begin with the crash of the germanwings flight. investigators are searching the apartment of the copilot andreas lubitz. searching as well the home of his parents. the 28-year-old copilot joined germanwings directly after he completed training in 2013. he had logged relatively few flying hours. only 630 hours of total flight ti

and the states are collapsing across the middle east. iran is charging into the void to do just that. iran's goons in gaza revolutionary guards in the golan heights are clenching them with three reigns of terror. backed by iran shiite militia rampaging through iraq. backed by iran houthis seizing control of yemen, threatening strategic straits at the mouth of the red sea. along with straits of hormuz gives iran a choke point on the world's oil supply. last week near hormuz iran carried out a military exercise blowing up a mock u.s. aircraft carrier. that's just last week! while they're having nuclear talks with the united states. but unfortunately for the last 36 years, iran's attacks against the united states have been anything but mock. and the targets have been all too real. iran took dozens of americans hostage in tehran murdered hundreds of soldiers marines in beirut, is responsible for killing and maiming thousands of american serviceman and women in iraq and afghanistan. beyond the middle east iran attacks america and its allies th

they see it as a persian invasion of the soupy heartland says a former case officer with long middle east experience who travels frequently to iraq. and then my friends, i would be interested in my friend from south carolina's reaction to this. after meeting with demps -- the body, dempsey told reporters he was given firm assurances that the shiite government is committed to reconciling. asked whether they were credible defensive said they seemed credible today. dempsey noted during his helicopter flight over baghdad he saw worrisome signs of iranian influence. he spotted a plethora of flags at check points and elsewhere in the capital. only one of which happened to be the iraqi flag, he said, alluding to the banners of iranian-backed shiite militias. can we get real, i ask my friend from south carolina, as to what is taking place now the iranians are now in sanaa they're in baghdad and beirut and damascus and meanwhile this president and secretary of state pursue the mirage of a nuclear agreement that will somehow change the entire equation and i'd be interested in his views of what

the class divide. we asked americans where they think they belong. are you really middle class? >>> and in the endgame, lindsey graham started it here on "meet the press." >> i don't e-mail -- no you can have every e-mail i've ever sent. i've never sent one. >> now the other washington politicians who admit never taking that bridge to the 21st century. i'm chuck todd. joining me to provide insight and analysis this morning are matt bai of yahoo! news, former hillary clinton press secretary karen finney, my colleague andrea mitchell here at nbc and former senior adviser to mitt romney, kevin madden. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press." with chuck todd. >> good morning. the white house is hitting back hard on the issue of iran. late last night they sent their own letter to senate republicans. the message, don't meddle and blow our chances of getting any deal. this, of course, comes after 47 republican senators warned iran's supreme leader or was it president obama they were warning, that congress could undo any deal the