Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140130 : c

Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140130

What goes on in a womens studies classroom. History, womens feminist movements, and the backlash. Professor and author Bonnie Morris will take your questions in depth starting sunday live at noon eastern. And you still have a few days to weigh in on the book club. Join the conversation. Onto book tv. Org and click book tv to enter the chat room. Cspan. We bring Public Affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house and events, briefings, and conferences, offering complete gavel to gavel coverage of the u. S. House, all as a private service of public industry. We are cspan, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. In his state of the union address, president obama announced the Treasury Department would be creating a new type of retirement account called myra. At a steel mill and west mifflin, pennsylvania, the president discussed Retirement Savings and gave more details about his proposal. This is 20 minutes. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] hey, hello, everybody well, thank you, mario, for that great introduction and your leadership. You just dont come to the steel city without coming to u. S. Steel. I just got a great tour and had a chance to see a little bit about how you guys build america every single day and i could not be prouder to be here. I brought a few friends with me. We got americas treasury secretary, jack lew. [applause] weve got a couple of guys who wake up and go to bed for pennsylvania workers every single day, senator bob casey. [applause] and congressman mike doyle. [applause] weve got the mayor of west mifflin, chris kelly, in the house. Pittsburghs new mayor is here. And weve got allegeny county executive rich fitzgerald. And then weve got one of my good buddies who is always in my ear about working people, and i love this guy, the International President of the united steelworkers, leo gerard, is here. [applause] and i also brought along our great friend, our former ambassador to ireland and most importantly chairman of the pittsburgh steelers, dan rooney in the house. [applause] and most of all, its great to be here with men and women of u. S. Steel. This company helped build america, and over 100 years later youre still at it. You forged the pipes that transport cleaner burning natural gas. You manufacture the lightweight alloys that our automakers use to build fuelefficient cars. Youre part of one of the great turnaround stories of this economic recoveries, the rebound of the American Steel industry. And look, just every time i go to the steel plant, i remember being a steelworker is hard work, but every single one of you is doing your part to make the country stronger. And because of your efforts, businesses like u. S. Steel have now created eight million new jobs over the past four years. 9,000 new jobs in the Steel Industry alone. Our Unemployment Rate is the lowest its been in five years. Our deficits have been cut in half. Housing is rebounding. Manufacturing is adding jobs, not shrinking jobs, for the First Time Since the 1990s. We sell more than what we make here in parts of america to the world than ever before. Business leaders are starting to realize that chinas no longer the best place to invest and create jobs. America is. The u. S. Of a. [applause] which is why i said last night i believe this can be a breakthrough year for america. After five years of hard work, after everything we did to dig ourselves out of the worst recession of our lifetime, were better positioned in this 21st century than any other country on earth. And the question i posed to congress yesterday is whether folks in washington are going to help or theyre going to hinder the progress weve been making. Whether theyre going to waste time creating new crises that slows down our economy or theyre going to spend time creating new jobs and new opportunities. [applause] and i dont know what their plans are, but i choose a year of action because too Many Americans are working harder than ever just to get by. Let alone get ahead. They still have the scars of the recession, but the truth is the middle class has been taken it on the chin says way before the financial crisis hit. You know that. The economy now has been growing for four years. Corporate profits, stock prices, theyve gone up, but folks wages hasnt risen in over a decade. And thats why last night i laid out new steps we can take right now to speed up economic growth, strengthen the middle class and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class. Its an opportunity agenda, because opportunity is what americas all about. And the agenda has four parts. Number one, more new jobs. Jobs in american manufacturing, jobs in American Energy, jobs in American Innovation and technology. Number two, we got to train more americans with the skills that we need to fill those jobs. Number three, we got to guarantee every child in america a worldclass education. [applause] and number four, we got to make sure hard work pays off. Now, some of these ideas that i presented last night are going to require congress to pass legislation, but america doesnt stand still. U. S. Steel hasnt stood still. Im not going to stand still. So wherever i can take steps to expand opportunity for more families, regardless of what congress does, thats what im going to do. [applause] because i am determined to work with all of you and citizens all across this country on the defining projects of our generation and that is to restore opportunity for every Single Person whos willing to work hard and take responsibility in this country. Thats what im committed to doing. [applause] now, ive come to u. S. Steel today because i wanted to talk about that fourth part of that agenda, making hard work pay off for every single american, making sure jobs pay good wages, making sure Affordable Health care is there when you need it, making sure after a lifetime of hard work you can retire with some dignity. Today women make up about half our work force, but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. As i said last night, thats wrong. In 2014, it is an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work. They deserve to be able to have a baby without sacrificing a job. Moms and dads deserve to be able to take a day off for a sick kid or a sick parent. We got to get rid of some of these workplace policies that belong back in the 1950s, back in a mad men episode, i said. We ought to give every opportunity she deserves because when women succeeds, america skeds. Im proud that there is a woman heading up this plant and doing some amazing work. I was really glad to see that. But women hold the majority of lower wage jobs, and theyre not the only ones who have been stifled by stagnant wages. The truth is wages and incomes for the average working american havent gone up. Even though the economy is more productive, even though its grown over the last two decades, the average persons salary, what theyre taking home, their paycheck, it hasnt really grown. Now, americans understand, we all understand some people are going to earn more money than others. And we dont envy anybody who achieves success through their hard work. Thats what we want for our kids. Now, michelle and i were talking. Michelles dad was a bluecollar worker. Worked at a Water Filtration plant in chicago. Her mom was a secretary. My mom was a single mom. When we were growing up, we werent worrying about what rich people were doing. We werent going around saying, oh, man, we dont have caviar for lunch and were not were not, you know, vacationing down in some fancy place. We dont begrudge the success of other folks, but we did expect, and i think most Americans Still expect that if you work hard you should be able to make it. You dont have to you dont have to make it the way some folks make it but everybody should have enough to feel some security. And americans overwhelmingly agree that nobody who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. If youre doing your responsibilities and working hard, you should be able to pay the rent, buy food, look after your family. Today, the federal minimum wage doesnt go as far as it did even in the 1950s. Thats why some states and cities are raising the minimum wage on their own and i support their efforts. As i mentioned last night, as chief executive, im going to lead by example. In the coming weeks, im issuing an executive order requiring federal contractors, folks doing business with the federal government, pay your federally funded employees a fair wage of at least 10. 10 an hour. Because if you cook our troops meals or you wash their dishes, you shouldnt have to live in poverty. [applause] of course, if were going to reach millions more, then congress is going to have to get onboard. Theres a bill in congress right now to raise that minimum wage to 10. 10 an hour, and i told congress, say yes to that, give america a raise. But thats not all we have to do to grow our middle class. Making work pay also means access to health care for you when you get sick. Now the good news is, if you work at u. S. Steel i know you got good benefits. And thats why im a strong supporter of unions because they fought for those benefits. [applause] but as everybody here knows, and i bet you got friends and family who havent been so lucky and dont have those benefits. What the Affordable Care act means is that no one can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a preexisting condition like asthma or cancer. You cant be charged more if youre a woman. You cant be charged more just because forging steel might hurt your back, make it hurt sometimes. And if you dont have Health Insurance on the job, you can actually get Affordable Health insurance. So the days when folks are just on your own, out of luck, those days are over. More americans are signing up for new private Health Insurance plans every day. Were signing folks up for medicaid, and if you know somebody who isnt covered, call them up, sit them down, help them get covered at healthcare. Gov by march 31. We are going to get all of america covered. Thats one of my commitments. [applause] and finally, and thats what this little desk here is about, theres another thing we can all agree on. If you worked hard all your life, you deserve a secure retirement. You know, some of the folks i met before i came here on the tour, some of these folks have been on the job 15 years, 20 years. I think your roller has been on the job 38 years. Let me tell you something, if you worked 38 years, at the end of it you should feel like youre going to retire with some security. And a retirement used to be a threelegged stool. You used to have a pension. Then, you had your social security. Then, you had your own private savings. And you put that all together and you could retire. But today most workers dont have a pension in america. Just half work for an employer that offers any kind of retirement plan. Social Security Check is critical but oftentimes that monthly check, thats not enough. And while the stock markets doubled over the last five years, that doesnt help somebody if you dont have a 401k. So what ive asked congress to do is work with me to give more people more retirement security. Lets fix an upside down tax code that right now gives the wealthiest americans big tax breaks to save but does almost nothing for middleclass folks, doesnt give them the same kind of tax advantages. Thats not fair. And we need to give every american access to an automatic i. R. A. On the job so they can save at work. Now, im hoping that Congress Goes along with this, but im not going to wait for congress. I can do more with congress, but im not going to not do anything without congress, not when its about the basic security and dignity of american workers. So heres what im going to do today. This is what this little table is set up for. Im going to sign a president ial memorandum that directs the u. S. Treasury secretary, jack lew, to create a new way for working americans to start their own Retirement Savings. [applause] and as soon as i sign this, jack lew will get the memo. He is right here. Im going to say here, heres your memo. And were calling it my r. A. Not i. R. A. My r. A. And what it is, its a new type of savings bond in a we can set up without legislation that encourages americans to begin to build a nest egg and its simple. Workers can contribute through automatic deductions in their paychecks, just like those of you who have an employersponsored pension fund can do, they can keep the same account, even if they change jobs. So they can carry it over. Its safe. These accounts balance these account balances will never go down in value. Theyre backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. And its affordable. So you can open an account with as little as 25. You can contribute as little as 5 at a time. But what that means is for those of you who dont have a 401k on the job, dont have a pension on the job, dont have a mechanism to start saving, especially young workers, you can get started now. And in an emergency, you can withdraw contributions without paying a penalty, so its a pretty good deal. [applause] and what im hoping is that working americans will take a look, because i want more people to have the chance to save for retirement through their hard work. And this is just one step that we can take to help more people do that. So this is the opportunity agenda thats going to help restore some sense of Economic Security in this 21st century economy. We want jobs that are more plentiful. We want skills that keep you employable. We want savings that are portable, we Want Health Care thats yours and is not going to be canceled when you really need it. We want every american who works hard and takes responsibility to retire with dignity after decades of honest work. These are real practical, Achievable Solutions to help shift the odds back a little bit in favor of more working and middleclass americans. If they work hard, they can get ahead and they can leave something for the next generation and thats something that u. S. Steel knows a little bit about. For over 100 years, people throughout the valley and throughout this country have been punching in at plants just like this one. Youve been keeping the furnaces blasting, keeping the coal mill rolling, carrying on the tradition of hard work and determination. We got two, threegeneration steelworkers at this plant right here. And i know for a lot of you this is more than a job. In is a team. This is a family that youre proud to be part of. Now, robin burke is with me today. Decades ago her granddad worked for union switch and signal in pittsburgh making parts for railroads. Her dad worked for u. S. Steel for over 30 years, rising to plant manager. Robins been a safety manager here for 23 years, and i want to share something robin said. She said, when i was growing up i would think about what my grandfather and father did for a living and i always thought my brother would be the one who got to work here. But it ended up being me. Women before me maybe didnt have that opportunity. Now, robins dad, bernard, who just passed away a little more than a year ago, he was full of pride for this company. He used to say, when we bleed we bleed blue. The color of u. S. Steel. So that pride has run across generations. Thats the pride that built this country and thats the pride that built america. Thats the spirit we all need today. Thats the resilience, the grit, the determination and the optimism that keeps the American Dream alive. Not just for this generation but for future generations to come. Thats what im going to be fighting for this year, just like i was for the last five years and for the next three years. And i expect all of you to join me in making sure that we deliver that promise to the next generation. And now im going to sign this bill. Thank you, god bless you. God bless the United States of america. [applause] its done. Heres jack lew. Im going to give it to him. Were going to get it started. Thank you, everybody. Grab your ticket and your suitcase, thunders rolling down this track well you dont know where youre going now but you know you wont be back well, darling, if youre weary lay your head upon my chest well take what we can carry yeah, and well leave the rest well, big wheels roll through fields where sunlight streams meet me in a land of hope and dreams i will provide for you and ill stand by your side youll need a good companion now for this part of the ride republican and democratic politicians discuss this year state of the union in an event hosted by politico. The prospects for immigration, an increase in minimum wage, and other items on president obamas agenda. [applause] good morning, everybody. Im thrilled to be joined on this early poststate of the Union Morning by susan brooks, congresswoman from indiana, james lankford, congressman from oklahoma, mike pompeo, congressman from kansas, three House Republicans who were obviously at the state of the union, we hope, last night. Our mobile polling question for this conversation is displayed on the tvs above us so weigh in and participate in this event. So lets get started. Guys, this is a question that were asking everybody today. So youll hear throughout the presentation but the biggest thing i learned about president obama last night was that he was blank. Ill start with you, congressman pompeo. In charge for five years but responsible for nothing. And congressman lankford. Im not sure i learned that. I knew that side of him. I think he i learned he finds it very important that you call your mother. Obvious reference to his urging of the American People to sign up for health care. Call your mo

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