increased. when reagan was governor of the state of california, it was like $7. that was equal to $10.25 today. that s one issue. we can go beyond that. the president two years ago proposed a jobs program for america. it had many different pieces to it. it had a powerful infrastructure piece which we need. we need to build the foundation, the roads, the water systems, and the like. nothing has happened here in congress on that because the house of representatives is controlled by the republicans. they refuse to deal with it. he talked about education and research. the only thing that s happened is the republicans have downsized all of those critical ingredients of economic growth and jobs. what does it say that the republicans have put together somewhat of a coaching playbook for their members to go out and
it s not good for the american people and workers across our nation. we re going to use this fiscal cliff as the catalyst to come to a conclusion, to an agreement. i think it s the time to do it. it s long overdue. hey, dick, it s ed rendell. how are you? i m great. dick, i m talking about our guys in both the senate and the house. you know, because you voted for simpson-bowles which i thought was extremely courageous, but you know that there are a lot of the spending cuts. let s assume we get a good revenue package. there are a lot of the spending cuts that a lot of our men and women aren t going to like. that s right. do you think we can hold enough of them to get this through? because i think in the end, the packages are going to require more democratic votes than we re going to get from the republicans. so it s going to be crucial to hold our guys for something that s going to administer a little bit of pain to our base. well, ed, you make a very good point. you and i s
more washington argument, not as consequential as this summer when the specter of potential default was hanging over the discussion. cnbc s john harwood, always a pleasure. thank you, sir. you bet. as polls show, the president s message seems to be taking hold. president obama just finished speaking at the georgetown waterfront pushing for passage of the infrastructure piece of his jobs bill. when the senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell, visited that closed bridge in kentucky that i was talking about, he admitted, look, roads and bridges are not partisan in washington. if the speaker of the house, the republican leader in the senate, all the democrats, all say that this is important to do, why aren t we doing it? nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joining me now. the president continuing to hammer republicans for blocking the jobs bill. reporter: that s right, he certainly is, craig, calling them out by name today. this is a tactic we ve seen him take b
we re not going to create new jobs by spending in washington, d.c. no, not for the long-term. absolutely not. but can you get people through? that s the question. and i m with the infrastructure piece, i think there were two pieces, and i agree with you about one piece. the piece of it that was in effect an ability to extend unemployment insurance that in effect became the bridge, that definitely is easing the pain, trying to get, you know, more consumers to the other side. but the infrastructure piece is a much more significant piece. and it has a long-term benefit, not just in terms of genuine job creation, but infrastructure. we re going to weave this into the next conversation because certainly there s an educational component of this. up next, the white house announces a plan to ease the burden of student loans. arnie duncan joins the conversation next.
workers cheaper? will we get an unemployment benefits extension, which they ve always fought. will we get infrastructure. what s it going to be, howard? what gets through after this? well, i think payroll tax, probably. i think they ve got to do it, having cut it twice, they ve got to do it again. otherwise, you know, we could be tipped back into a second recession, because of cuts and consumer spending and consumer confidence. that s probably not wuumber one. after that, who knows? i don t know what else will get passed. and the question you asked is the right one, chris. this isn t something that is going to do much more than preserve the status quo. extend unemployment benefits, continue a payroll tax cut. yes, the infrastructure piece is a big piece, but i seriously doubt that the president s going to have the muscle to get that through. yeah, i wonder if this administration is the last one for president obama, will he look back and say, i tried to do too much on jobs, or i did