Woodruff we break down two big deals in the world of technology and telecommunications. Ifill as the debate over a living wage is reignited by fastfood workers, ray suarez sits down with the new secretary of labor, thomas perez. Good luck the only service that can be sustained in america are minimum wage, no benefit jobs. I categorically reject that woodruff and schools in oakland, california, want to curb a decade of declining graduation rates. We profile programs aimed at engaging students. Ifill thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff president obama won key support today as he stepped up his courting of congress to back military action against syria. He and his top lieutenants lobbied for punishing the damascus regime over the use of chemical weapons. I want to that leaders of both parties for being here today. The president called in house and Senate Leaders this morning, plus Key Committee chairs, in part positive reassure them that he has no intention of overreaching in syria. I want to nofly zone to the American People, the military plan that has been developed by the joint chiefs and that i believe is appropriate is proportional. It is limited. It does not involve boots on the ground. This is not iraq and this is not afghanistan. More over, mr. Obama said he is willing to work with congress to add just the resolutions language, authorizing the use of force. So long as we are accomplishing what needs to be accomplished, with i have to send a clear message to assad and his abilities to use nuke collar weapons im confident we will come up with something. Afterwards it appeared the president had hit his mark with the lawmakers, House Speaker john boehner backed the call for military strikes on syria. This is something that the United States as a country needs to do. Im going to support the president , call for action. I believe my colleagues should support this action. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi agreed. But she also said the administration does need to win over the public. I am hopeful, the American People are persuaded that this action happened, that assad did it, that hundreds of children were killed, this is the behavior outside of the circle of civilized Human Behavior and we must respond. Later, second of state john kerry and defense secretary chuck hagel took the administrations picks directly to the Senate Foreign relations committee. I will tell you there are some people hoping that the United States congress doesnt vote for this very limited request the president has put before you. Iran is hoping you will look the other way. Our inaction would surely give them a permission slip, for them to at least misinterpret our intention, if not to put it to the test. Hagel suggested a us failure to act would also embolden the syrian government. The assad regime under pressure by the Syrian Opposition could feel im powered to carry out more devastating chemical weapons attacks without a response. Both men played down fears of a wider war. Kerry agreed the language of the resolution could rule out the use of u. S. Ground troops. At one point, the proceedings were interrupted by antiwar protesters. And kerry looked back 0 his early years opposing the war in vietnam. You know the first time i testified before this committee was when i was 27 years old. I have feelings very similar to that protester. And i would just say that is exactly why it is so important that were all here having this debate, talking about these things before the country and that the congress itself will act representing the American People. Kerry and hagel, both former senators, generally got a supportive reception. But idaho republican jim rich made it clear it was not unanimous. Are we really going to be giving them credibility, if we go in with a limited strike and the day after or the week after or the month after, assad calls out of his rat hole and said, look, i stood up to the strongest power on the face of thisarth and i won. So now its business as usually here. There is no question that whatever choices are made by the president , that he and his military effort will not be better off, number one, and the opposition will know that and the people in syria will know that. Woodruff at the end of the day, the president still face add fight with a number of conservative republicans and some liberal democrats opposing any action in syria. In a New Washington post abc news poll found broad public opposition as well. Meanwhile the United Nations secretary general warned against any american attack without the approval of the u. N. Security council. Also today, russia criticized the deployment of u. S. Warships near syria, complaining its only aggravating tensions. And illustrating those tensions, a u. S. S. Israeli joint missile exercise in the mediterranean sparked a brief overnight flurry of alarm in the region. At the ifill as the syria debate unfolds in congress, well be talking to lawmakers as they decide what comes next. Tonight we get the view from one senator who supports the president , but believes the u. S. Should be doing even more. Michigan democrat carl levin is chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee. I spoke with him a short time ago. Senator levin, thank you for joining us. First i want to ask you where do you stand tonight on the president s authorization got . I think we should authorize the use of force in order for it to be most effective, that means that we have to do a couple of things besides authorize it. We have to help the Syrian People who are resisting assad to have the weapons to fight for themselves and so for certain weapons that would be helpful in that respect have not been provided for them and particularly in response to a chemical attack. If they had antitank weapons to go against the tanks, it would protect the launchers that launch the chemical weapons for instance, that would show this is not just an american fight, that this is a fight that the Syrian Free Army is right in the middle of and is willing to fight but they need the weapons, we ought to help get those weapons to them, and, secondly, it seems to me its important that, when we do strike, that we have other countries with us for it to be effective and that includes a number of arab countries. We were assured today there will be a number of countries that would join with us and thats very important for the effectiveness of any of our action on our part. Lets talk about one thing at a time. The first part, with i is arming the rebels, which you have been arguing on behalf of for the better part of this year, is that something that you understand to be part of the authorization request as redrafted in congress . I would like to see it as part of the authorization of congress but whether its part of the authorization or not, if the administration does move there that direction, and i am more confident now than i was before the meeting this morning that there will be that kind of an effort, then it has the same effect. So one way or another, it seems to me, we have the Syrian People who hate this dictator, we have a Free Syrian Army, which is willing to take him on, every day, but right now they dont have the kind of weapons that would allow them to respond to a chemical attack inside of a city. For that they need for instance to go after the tanks and the artillery, which are protecting the rocket launchers which are the ones that launched those chemical attacks. And the second part, point you made was you had been assured this morning that there would be support from arab nations in this enterprise. What kind of assurance did you get . Well, we got aid insurance that there will be at least some nations that are willing to speak out. I think almost all of the arab nations want us to do it but there will be a few, we will be assured and they werent named and that was appropriate but we were assured there would be some arab nations that would actively participate with us and a number of additional nations both expaish nonarab, that would be publicly supportive of this action. Its important that this be viewed not as just an american effort to keep a red line which the world has drawn against chemical weapons intact, r. But that in fact it is an International Effort and not every country may join us. But provided there are a number of countries that do, it will send the same signal. Back to the army rebels we have had this conversation before. In fact last time we talked about red lines i think the president said he would do it. If it hasnt happened, why not . And what certainty do you have it will happen this time . Because i heard some things this morning that reassured me that its going to happen, that they now have a greater Comfort Level with certain parts of the opposition, and so that we can make sure to the extent that is humanly possible that the weapons do not fall into the wrong hands, because there are parts of the opposition to assad that are not people that we want to provide weapons to because they could use them for the wrong purpose. A very complex situation. The Free Syrian Army is led by a person who we know is a moderate, that we know will, when they succeed, help the Syrian People and the Free Syrian Army and move in the right direction but there are other elements such as al qaeda and we do not want to do anything which could help them get the kind of weapons that they would use. And you are reassured that this plan, whatever plan that you have been briefed on, would ensure these weapons did not end up in the hands of jihaddists on the front and that they would not be a vacuum that followed as a result . Well, there is greater insurance now than there was months ago, that we have that we can identify the groups that should have the weapons to take on assad and it should be done safely. Its not a perfect deal. Theres no guarantee that some of these weapons would not fall into the wrong hands but theres greater confidence now. One other thing, particularly as it relates to the antitank weapons. These are tanks which are protecting assad rocket launchers. Those tanks can only be knocked off with antitank weapons and those antitank weapons are useful only against assads tanks because there are no other tanks in syria beside assad tanks and so those weapons it seems to me can be provided to the vetted components of the Syrian Opposition. Secretary kerry said today there was absolutelily positively no way there would be boots on the ground and he would be open to this being included as part of the war authorization. Do you think its a good idea to draw that line . I do. Why. Because i think its important that the American People know were not going to get dragged into a civil war, that there are ways of taking action against the use of chemical weapons which needs to be taken. If countries such as syria and iran understand that the transfer, for instance, of weapons of mass destruction or the use of weapons of mass destruction, will precipitate a ponce on our part because if those are transferred such chemicals going to terrorist groups th this is in our interest that chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction not be used because they could be readily transferred to terrorist groups that are targeting us and so i think it is terribly important that the stepsen taken that i have outlined and also that we not be dragged into a civil war. We can act against the use of weapons of mass destruction and help others, like the Syrian Free Army to act against the use of chemical weapons without being dragged into a civil war. How do you reassure your constituents and others around the country that look at this and see echos of the arguments that were made for iraq or afghanistan, that this is not going to drag us into a wider war or that even these chemical weapons are the reason to act now . Well, first of all i distinguish iraq and afghanistan for a lot of reasons but going back to iraq itself, what has changed now is that there is a Global Terrorist Network now which is much more threatening now to us than twas five, 10, 15 years ago. So the possibility that weapons would be transferred to a terrorist group now with a global reach is a very different and more threatening situation to us than it was before. That does not defend our failures before, particularly would the use of chemical weapons by iraq, but i am saying that it is a much different situation now than it was 10 or 15 or 20 years ago. Senator carl levin of michigan. Thank you very much. Good being with you, glenn. Woodruff still to come on the newshour, stemming the radioactive leaks in japan; merging tech and telecom giants; inspiring African American boys in oakland; and secretary of labor thomas perez. But first, the other news of the day. Heres kwame holman. Holman the sporadic violence in baghdad surged again today. At least 67 iraqis died in a series of bombings in the early evening. Some of the targets were in shiite areas, others were largely sunni. More than 4,000 people have been killed in iraq during a period of sectarian violence spanning the last five months. Al jazeera televisions affiliate in egypt and three other stations were blacked out today. An Egyptian Court ordered them shut down for siding with ousted president Mohammed Morsi and his muslim brotherhood. That brought divided reactions, from those who favored and opposed the ruling. I filed the case because it is not objective and transmitting a picture that does not reflect the truth of the protest which is inciting violence against the regime. This is not a democracy we have been waiting for. Back during the revolution, aljazeera was the one showing the truth and other egyptian channels were not. Now they say they oppose the revolution because it shows the truth and the people that got killed. Thats not right. Meanwhile holman meanwhile, egyptian helicopter gunships struck militants in the northern Sinai Peninsula today. At least eight were killed and 15 injured as part of a campaign to control islamic radicals in the region. In economic news, new data showed u. S. Manufacturing grew in august by the most in more than two years. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 23 points to close near 14,834. The nasdaq rose more than 22 points to close at 3612. The largest selfanchored suspension bridge in the world opened for business in San Francisco today. Vehicles began crossing the new section of the San Francisco oakland bay bridge, some six years behind schedule. The span cost 6 billion, five times more than its original budget. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to judy. Woodruff theres more bad news from japan about radioactive leaks at the crippled Fukushima Nuclear plant and a new plan to deal with those problems. We begin with a report from tom clarke of independent television news. Its two and a half years since the area was sent to meltdown and the cleanup has hardly begun. Instead, engineers have been back to prevent hundreds of tons of radioactive water leaking from storage tanks from the site today japans Prime Minister announced the government would intervene. The whole world is watching whether we can successfully resolve problems with the plant and decommission the reactors. We must all Work Together on the issues. The total crises stems from this the huge quantities needed to cool the reactors. Nearly 400,000 tons of water is being stored in these hastily constructed tanks. More are being added daily and theyre running out of space. Since the initial meltdown in 2011, contaminated water has been leaking from the reactor buildings into the groundwater beneath, and a third said water leaked from the storage tanks today. Todays plan is to drill holes around the reactors and pump them full of cool water from the ground that would stop the contaminated water leaking out. The difficulty comes in actually being age able to get close enough to get from the locations as they would require to install the wells so it may be that they have to make the make it further away from the source than they wanted. The rest would be spent on the thousands of tons of contaminated water in leaky tanks. Its being suggested today degrees action is to increase japans image abroad and the decision to choose the 2020 as a host nation ifill Jeffrey Brown picks up the story from there. Brown we check in again with two people whove helped us keep up with the continuing crisis. Arjun makhijani is an engineer specializing in nuclear fusion. Hes the president of the institute for energy and environmental research. Kenji kushida specializes in japanese studies at stanford university. Welcome back to both of you. Arjun, let me start with you, how serious are the new revelations about the water contamination. The last time we spoke or we talked about the leak and the radiation levels that could give a worker an annual radiation dose in 12 minutes. Well, more recently, there have been reports that the radiation levels near another tank are 1800 units per hour. This is an extremely high level of radiation. A few hours basically constitutes a lethal dose. So now were talking about radioactive contamination in the tanks and the liquid stored in the tanks that are very highly radioactive so the leaks that are extremely problematic for the workers and for management. Is this something they just discovered or what suddenly causes that much more serious amount of levels. The best i can understand, through all of the confusing information that is out there, is the first measurement was done with an instrument that only went up to a hundred millie units and now theyre making more measurements and finding there are more contaminated spots and apparently more leaks. So im not quite clear what the Company Knows when. But the information is kind of dribbling out ask the government is clearly concerned that the situation is getting more out of control. Kenji, you pick up on that because theres the government and the government is stepping in with more force now, right . Yeah, absolutely. Because the next election in three years is going to definitely reflect the response on this nuclear issue, because theyre essentially a pro Nuclear Party that just won a landslide election and so if they cant manage the operators rescue efforts and the operator seems to be unable to deal with the worst parts of the situation then the government is on the hook. But from the outside, it looks like this is taking a long time to get to even the kind of understanding of the contamination levels that never mind getting into a lot of the more serious work that needs to be done. What is the sense in japan as far as you can tell about the levels of, i dont know, desperation or urgency there . Yeah, well, similar floor what we said last time, the operators reputation and peoples confidence in it, which was already at an alltime low is now even lower and after the government essentially defect nationalized the operator about a year ago and replaced top management people hoped that the ability of the operator to deal with some of these problems would have beenhanced. But some of the media reports comisaying subcont information y are leaking information that thn greatere cost pressure under tecko, and they are put together with bolts that are not welded together so some of these subcontractors are saying well in the long run, you would expect them to start springing leaks, so clearly, they havent been on top of the situation and people are getting very nervous about that. So, arjun, explain the idea of the ice wall. It sounds strange. How would it work and how much has it been tried before . Well, i dont know if an ice wall like this has been tried before. Its like building a dam underground but with ice, by freezing august of the water in the soil, so theres water coming in uphill, through the side and going into the ocean, all underground. Its an aquifer, so theres like water fuel and becoming contaminated so they hope to freeze it with a giant freezing machine like your freezer at home and put cooling coils in the soil, it takes an enormous amount of electricity and they would freeze it. Of course it contains the water behind it like a dam but eventually its going to overtop the dam as it did before, they had another wall that they built, they chemically impregnated the soil to kind of solidify it and that is what is overflowing three times a day. So it has been done before but that on this scale, you think, so is it an experiment or is it a stab at something it is an experiment. And i think its a risky experiment because if the power fails, you know, just like when the power goes out with your refrigerator,co everything will defrost in the freezer. If the ice melts and its blocking an enormous amount of contaminated water behind it, you have a problem and at the same time you know, the tanks are themselves something of a threat, if theres another earthquake and this highly contaminated water gets into the ocean so they have a got a couple of very, very Serious Problems of containing the water. And then, kenji kushida, theres a the longterm here and i heard talk about decades to decommission the plant for example. Yes. Some of the estimates are a minimum of 40 years to decommission the plant so the idea of frozen underground walls, a massive spending into innovative Infrastructure Projects can be a good thing but when its a last line of defense designed as a permanent solution to a seamingly intractable problem i think the general public would be more comforted if they saw several options out there instead of all of the eggs put into this potentially unrisky, unno enand untested solution that may or may not work. You were talking about the politics of the area. Is there any sun certainty as to the will to stay with this for the decades that youre talking about. Well, theres no choice. Given that the party is pro nuclear and they do not face elections for three years, their interest is definitely to do whatever is possible. Because if this gets truly out of hand in a greater sense than now, then they will be their heads will be on the chopping block in the next election but they would like to void that. That being said, its not like theres a set of Technical Solutions that are easily possible here that can be chosen from. So in the very longterm, they do need to try to stay in power so you would expect them to put as many resources as possible. And they are moving but they need to much much more quickly as the general public would agree. All right. Kenji and arjun, thank you very much. Thank you woodruff we turn now to the world of technology and telecommunications, where two big deals have been announced in as many days. The latest microsoft is buying nokias smartphone and cellular handset business for just over 7 billion. It comes just days after questions were raised about the future of microsoft when c. E. O. Steven ballmer announced his intention to retire. On monday, verizon announced it would buy vodafones stake in Verizon Wireless for 130 billion, making it one of the largest merger and acquisition deals in history. Cecilia kang of the Washington Post has been covering these stories and joins me now. Welcome back to the news hour, cecilia. Lets start with the newsiest of the two stories and that is microsoft buying nokia. What is behind this . Reporter microsoft has really struggled to get a foot hold in the Smartphone Market that has really dominated all of technology in the last six years since the iphone was released. And its struggled because its Software Development has been slow and it has not been able to compete with Companies Like apple and google which now completely dominate the Smartphone Market and this is really where the future of all technology is going. Why is mike so soft so far behind the other two . Microsoft is behind for several reasons but much of it, theres a development of its software, its windows software, and also it made a strategic bet, about six before six years ago, before the iphone was introduced in 2007, where it believed that its ability to extend its dominance in technology from the pc market could be done in the same way in the mobile Device Market by simply licensing software. But what it saw was apple really broke out and came out with a new model where, when it introduced the iphone and then subsequently the ipad, it showed that it could be that the real successful model for that Company Initially was to control the device, to actually produce and control the device as well as the software that runs on it. And microsoft has really struggled to be able to compete and bring forth a device and software that is as appealing to consumers as apple has and subsequently google with the an tried platform. So do analysts believe this is going to allow microsoft to catch up in some way or what . Well, microsoft is colonelling really late to the game. Again the iphone was introduced in 2007. Its really only been able to make some waves with its nokia Windows Phone called the lumina, in the last few quarters really and this is many years out. So its really in a way coming very rate but maybe that strategic was its trying to mimic the apple strategy by buying nokia and developing inhouse the Technology Hardware and the software. And whether its able to succeed in this way will really be difficult. Just by putting these companies, the developers under one roof may not be able to produce the results that its betting it will be able to do which is create the next big hit device, blockbuster device. What about the other much bigger deal, and that have verizon spending 130 billion for vodafone share in Verizon Wireless. Thats the thinking there . Well, the thinking there, and the price tag at t that dominate and they really only get bigger. S ises is, helping us understand it all. Thank you. Thank you. Ifill the new school year is now kicking into full gear around the country following the summer break, making it a good time for a series of stories on important ideas being discussed and debated in education. We start with a report from oakland, california, on a different approach to the dropout problem, where young black men are more likely to miss school, get suspended, or end up in jail than other students. Those statistics have alarmed officials, who have now set out to reverse a decade of declining graduation rates. Our story from special correspondent Joshua Johnson was produced by our colleagues at kqed in partnership with the San Francisco chronicle. Its part of the american graduate project. Reporter sizwe abakah teaches the Manhood Development class at oaklands skyline high school. He and about a dozen African American male teachers focus on making sure that black boys graduate high school. Were trying to make transformations. If you look at the statistics in oakland, black boys are the highest in everything we dont need to be in. You will see higher rates of dropouts, lower rates of graduation, higher rates of chronic absence, higher rates of suspension. Reporter Junious Williams is c. E. O. Of the urban strategies council, an oaklandbased nonprofit working to eliminate persistent poverty. In 2010, the council partnered with the Oakland School district to develop solutions for improving academic and social outcomes for black boys. The result was the office of African American male achievement. Chris chatmon is the executive director. One of the strategies with our Manhood Development classes is how do we put the swag back into education and learning. Reporter one challenge to restoring that swag, that swaggering sense of cool, was getting boys motivated to even show up to school. What we found was if kids werent excited about the classroom, if kids werent getting encouraged, they would get turned on to the streets. Reporter skyline is one of eight high schools and three middle schools in oakland that offer the Manhood Development class. Students come from varying academic, economic, and family backgrounds. Define manhood. In the context of this program, what does it mean to be a man . I want brothers to embrace all aspects of manhood not so much the strength, but the compassion, the love, the aspects of fatherhood, aspects of husbandhood, aspects of brotherhood. Reporter every day abakah, also known as brother sizwe, leads the boys in exercise. It focuses their minds so that they can become better students. My major concern is, they dont know how to receive information, they dont know how to take notes, they dont know how to sit down. A lot of our brothers need fathers, just period. I dont know what other way i can put it. I was actually one of the smartest kids in my class. Reporter abakah says sometimes the class feels more like therapy. We might have to deal with a brother that lost a cousin or a brother that might be having a baby next week. Reporter students built altars to honor fallen classmates and other victims of gun violence stark reminders of the trauma many carry into the classroom. I grew up on 94th. That was a bad area, a lot of killings happening. Reporter wesley brownlee, a 15yearold freshman, is a student in the manhood class. When he graduated from middle school, he had a 3. 5 g. P. A. Once he started high school, it began to drop. Ive seen myself hanging out with kind of the wrong friends and all that, like into bad stuff. Whatever support you need, call myself, the youth center, tutoring on campus, its time. Before before, all i was worried about was just sports, and now brother sizwe, he made us dig deeper into school. Like, if we dont have a good education, we might not get to the school we want, or we might not have the job we want when we get older. Reporter a few miles away from skyline, a Charter School is trying a more comprehensive approach. Its targeting kids starting in kindergarten, and all of the nearly 75 students enrolled are African American boys. A lot of boys that come to this school have failed in other schools. They have been kicked out or expelled, and we are not quick to do that. Reporter dr. Mark alexander, a retired epidemiologist, is Board Chairman of the 100 black men of the Bay Area Community school, which opened in 2012. The focus is on an educational mix of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. The school currently serves elementary students, but the goal is to expand coverage through 12th grade. I grew up foster homes. I grew up in very, very tough situations. I used to fight a lot. I used to get suspended. So i see a lot of myself in these boys and i see the genius in a lot of these kids. And i know it only takes a few people to just give a young man or a young woman the encouragement they need to really thrive. Reporter kids at the school start every morning with breakfast, then line up to repeat their morning affirmations, also known as the scholar holla. We are the reporter the schools robust offerings include a homework club, an aeronautics class, as well as mentoring in medicine and science. The goal is to make sure that all the needs of African American boys are met. If you had not received the support that you are providing to these African American boys, where would you be . I would be in san quentin. Or dead. Reporter you seem very sure of that . Absolutely. But i had a lot of people that refused to let me fail. There were people that said, Mark Alexander is not going to fail. Youve got to do this. Youve got to do this. There are no other options for you. And we have to have that kind of attitude for our kids. Reporter dr. Alexander says the situation is more dire than people may think. Its not just an African American issue, or even an oakland issue. Its an economic issue that impacts everyone in california, a state where minorities now make up the majority. When we fail black boys, latino boys whomever it is there is a cost attached to that incarceration, social services, added police protection, insurance rate. The litany goes on and on and on, and it is a huge price tag. When you invest up front and you make those boys successful, you invert that. Reporter the office of African American male achievement is seeing some early signs of progress. Some of the participating schools are reporting fewer discipline problems, better grades, and improved attendance. But reversing the old trends remains daunting. For chris chatmon, success begins by acknowledging achievements every step of the way. This year chatmons office co sponsored an annual honor roll event, celebrating African American boys and girls from eighth to 12th grades who maintained a 3. 0 grade point average. One of the skyline Manhood Development students, 15year old javon mabon, performed a spoken word piece at the event. Reporter cant read. The teachers didnt notice me but reporter javon did not have the g. P. A. Needed to win an award, but hopes to next year. But on the biggest day of the biggest game of the year, when the number 13 came crashing into me, at the same time i heard my knee snap, i heard my familys dreams shatter. And im asking yall, what are my options . I cant read. Reporter his performance was both a painful reminder of what black boys are up against and a moving testament to their potential. Ifill the american graduate project is funded by the corporation for public broadcasting. Woodruff the latest portrait of the jobs market due later this week is expected to show that hiring is continuing at a moderate pace. But even as the economy recovers slowly, there are other worries, including a lack of progress on wages and related issues. Ray suarez recently sat down to discuss this with the new secretary of labor. Reporter they dont capture the top headlines but the question of a living wage is moving front and center as of late. Protests by fast food workers have helped raise the profile of the issue, in the largest demonstration yet, workers from 60 cities walked off the job last week, for seeking 15 an hour and the right to unionize. Many Restaurant Owners say those added costs would make it too difficult to maintain their businesses. For his part president obama called for raising the federal minimum wage to nine dollars an hour, up from the current level of 7. 25. Labor i a key voice for dealing with these and other issues. He was recently confirmed by the that and welcome to the news hour. Pleasure to be here. We saw in many places fast food restaurants with workers outside, trying to tell the public where they stand. Recently, you wrote people who work fulltime in america should not have to live in poverty, simple as that. But how do you change a marketplace that manages to get people to come in to work on very low wages . I think you take a page out of what happened 50 years ago. We just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. That was not simply a march for civil rights as you know but a march for Economic Justice and one of the demands of the marchers was a fair and decent wage and that is really what the president is calling for in this context, because nobody should have to live in poverty who is working a fulltime job and there are a lot of myths about minimum wage workers, theyre all teenagers. Thats just categorically inaccurate, and in order to get people up to the ladder of opportunity they need to make a december it wage and for all too many people across america, the rungs between the ladder are growing further and further apart. The show of the American Workforce represented by labor unions has dropped pretty significantly in recent decades. Is organized labor still important or does the secretary of labor have to look more broadly to employers when talking about the fate of American Workers . The answer to your question is both organized labor is still important. I. Grew up in buffalo, new york, strong union town, and labor unions continue to play an Important Role there and across america. At the same time, we need to make sure that were not talking about yesterdays battles, us against them, labor against management. We need to be focused on tomorrows challenges. Were all in this together. Thats what i learned in maryland, when we were trying to create jobs and you look at the partnerships in nevada between the labor unions and the large employers, mgm and others, you look at the partnerships in new york city between sciu and the health care system. They have come together arounden understanding that if were going to bring jobs back to america, whether its manufacturing, service or otherwise, we have to come together around a shared vision and a shared understanding and leave yesterdays battles behind and come together around a joint need for Skill Development and partnership. Has the allow in many places in the country just made it too hard to organize as youre a group of workers would like to be represented by a union . Well, its up to each state, in terms of whether they want to pass right to work laws. I happen to believe, as the president does, that right to work laws are not good public policy. That is a state judgment. And in those states it has been more difficult to organize. I would like to see a level Playing Field so that workers can make a full and fair choice, and some states have that and some states dont. But again, what heartens me as much as anything is i think theres an acute recognition in the Labor Movement and among responsible employers that we cant fight yesterdays battles anymore. If were going to bring jobs back, if were going to build a robust economy, we have to recognize that were all in this together. Your department has recently put in place targets, new targets for people that do business with the federal government for hiring disabled workers and veterans. How does that work and what is that meant to respond to . What its meant to respond so is that the promise of the americans with disabilities act, that that law has been a gamechanger. But in the employment context, theres still theyre still stubbornly high Unemployment Rates among people with disabilities. How many people do you meet, ray, that come up and say i want to be a taxpayer . Thats what people with disabilities tell me. And what this regulation sets in place is that, for veterans with disabilities, for people with disabilities, employers need to set targets, their goals, and they need to have a plan to make sure that when youre looking at a person with a disability, youre focused on their ability not their disability. And i applaud employers like walgreens and others that have already eeeded these goals and are models for the nation and im confident this will open up windows of opportunity for people. A group of hr managers and large employers have gotten together to complain this puts them in the position of asking their prospective workers about possible disabilities in a way they wouldnt have before, in effect, theyre saying the federal government is forcing us to invade their privacy. How do you respond to that . Its incorrect. Theres no requirement on the perspective employee to answer any questions, all of the questions are voluntary. And again i would go back to all of these employers, large and small, as i mentioned, walgreens, ernst young, others that issued statements strongly supporting this initiative. This isnt a partisan initiate. Theres so much to talk to you about but i have to close with the longterm unemployed. The Unemployment Rate has been coming down steadily, not as fast as people would like but it has come down. People that have been unemployed for a long time are having a terrible, terrible time getting jobs. What can we do for them . Well, we can do a lot. And youre correct that, while the economy is slowly and steadily growing, we have to go at a faster pace and, in particular, we need to dress the terms of the longterm unemployed and the president has been talking about this issue specifically and a number of things that we can do. Number one, we have been talking about with employers and as recently as a few days ago i engaged there this precise conversation about what we can do to identify employers would best practices for hiring the longterm unemployed, and making sure there arent inadvertent barriers in place that screen out the longterm unemployed. Secondly and equalry, if not more importantly, investing in skills, because the thing i hear the most in my conversations with c. E. O. s across the country is, i am for every job i have, i have 50 or 60 percent of the applicants dont have the skills knows do the jobs dont have the skills necessary to do the jobs. The department of labor is a department of opportunity and the way we enhance opportunity is by making sure people have the skills to succeed. Thomas pettis is the secretary of labor. Thank you for joining us. Its a pleasure. Ifill finally tonight, some words of triumph from endurance swimmer diana nyad. The 64yearold became the first person to swim from cuba to florida without a shark cage. She covered 110 miles in 53 hours. At a press Conference Today in florida keys, nyad said shed chased her dream of making the epic swim for decades. Her fifth try was finally successful. There are so many factors out there against you, if you are going to lay the odds in vegas, it wouldnt be pretty. You wouldnt make money unless you bet against it. But we did it plawdz. [ applause ] as a swimmer youre never happy in the end. Any time you have to breathe and go up and down and fight it, youre not happy and youre not feeling well. And when i had to put on the jellyfish mask at night i felt 100 prepared for the jellyfish, but, every breath when youre in waves like that coming through that mask, and i started swallowing, the 13 hours of saturday night, tremendous volumes of sea water, and then i started vomiting constantly. And as soon as that happens and you cant replace that food, the protein, the electrolytes, youre in had a bad place, youre cold. And that night was hell on earth. I think my favorite press corp question for several people that asked me, well, do you have any boats that go along with you . [laughter] you know or do you just do it by yourself . I said, no, no, no, i put a couple of banana in any suit and i take a portable saltwater disstiller on my desk and i carry a buoy knife and i skin them and eat them alive. Yes, i have boats that go along with me. The thing about aging is, its true that the clock seems to be ticking faster as you get older. It isnt but it seems to be. Time seems to be running out. And i wanted to swim this endeavor not to just be the athletic record; i wanted it to be a lesson for my life that says be so awake and alert and alive every minute of every waking day because thats what i had to do to get this ton. That was dianne nyad reflecting on her historymaking swim from cuba to key west. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day. President obama won support from top house leaders and others as he courted congress to back military action against syria. And the government of japan announced it will spend 470 million to try to stop leaks of radioactive water from a crippled nuclear plant. Ifill online, getting your voice heard in the debate over syria. Kwame holman has the details. With members of congress before they vote, from tips on tweeting to telephoning, and in our ask the headhunter columnist translates the rejected letter from hr. Thats on making sense. All that and more on news hour. Pbs. Org. All that and more is on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. Gwen . Ifill and thats the newshour for tonight. Before we go, a reminder. We have good news if youre used to watching the pbs newshour monday through friday. Starting this weekend, you can find us saturdays and sundays as well. Pbs newshour weekend premieres this saturday, september 7. Join Hari Sreenivasan for a 30 minute look at the top news stories, with the same indepth, independent coverage youve come to expect from the newshour. Thats pbs newshour weekend, premiering right here this saturday. Check your local listings. Im gwen ifill. Woodruff and im judy woodruff. Well see you online and again here tomorrow evening. Thank you, and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by Macneil Lehrer productions Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org rose welcome to the program. We begin this evening with syria and the congress. Starting with david sanger of the New York Times and Dexter Filkins of the new yorker magazine. I think the big question which the administration is grappling with behind the scenes but does not want to discuss out in public is the question of whether or not its own plan is sufficient enough to actually prevent assad from using these weapons again and would set him back enough that it would make a significant difference on the ground. Over the last eight months, assads position has really stabilized. And i think that one of the puzzling things about the