chairman: i am going to go to mr.engel. eliot engel: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to go back to 10 years. after the 15 years, they are a legitimized state. that means they can produce weapons grade enriched uranium without limitation. you can say they are already at that point now. why would we not try to negotiate a deal where they cannot have those things in 15 years. i also want to mention that a nuclear agreement does not whitewash the fact that iran continues to maintain a destabilizing sector in the region and continues to contribute to terrorism across the globe. the concern is that the funding of terrorism will continue to affect them in a existential way. one of the issues i have had with this agreement was from day one, it limits to their nuclear program. with this agreement, how i look at it, the financing of terrorism will continue and could become much worse. the ride many in revolutionary guard corps could take advantage of any sanctions relief. simply put, money is fudgable. how specifically will we work with our allies to limit the windfall and to protect our allies like israel. the other issue i want to raise is, the lifting of the arms embargo and the sanctions, the chairman mentioned some of this. the sanctions around the missile program destabilizes the region. i was disappointed that the sanctions will be lifted. we had been told that the iranian weapons transfers and the ballistic missile program were outside of the scope of the negotiations. in my opinion, the changes to the sanctions should have been outside the scope as well. that means when the arms embargo expires, iran will be able to legally ship weapons to president assad so he can continue to torture and kill his own people. how will u.s. sanctions work to address this issue? will the administration be open to further congressional sanctions on the ballistic missile program? the sanctions are not specifically mentioned in the jcpoa. with violations of the arms embargo be considered violations of the jcpoa. if iran were continue to ship weapons before the arms embargo expires, will they be in violation of the jcpoa? secretary kerry: there are so many questions in there. i want to answer every single one of them. let me try to take on the biggest ones, first of all. let me call to everybody's attention. the irgc opposes this agreement. they are not sitting there thinking they will get the whole world and be able to do what they want to do. they oppose this agreement, and talk to the intel community about that. they see themselves as losing the cover of the nuclear umbrella that they had hoped to have for their nefarious activities. there is nothing here to prevent us from pushing back against the irgc pushing forward. congress and others, we are all free to work together to push back against the destabilizing activities. let me ask you a question. are they empowered more with a nuclear weapon, or stripped of that ability with a international agreement to have to live up to and then us coming in underneath with a whole set of other security arrangements and push back? the answer to that is crystal clear. you asked the question of what happens with respect to year 15. under the additional protocol in the modified code, please focus on what happens. there is not some sudden break off at the end of 15 years. they are under remarkable restraints, specifically, the comprehensive safeguards agreement that they have to negotiate with the iaea, which goes on forever. it provides the iaea with the right and obligation to provide safeguards in iran to ensure the material is not converted to nuclear weapons. all non-nuclear weapons states parties under the treaty have to bring this into agreement. the company has of safeguard agreement requires iran to maintain detailed accounting records on all material subject to the safeguards. they have to maintain operating records, subject to the safeguards. all public facilities within their program are subject to the safeguards. it' provides for a range of iaea inspections. they have to verify the identity, location, and composition. it requires the board of governors to take action without delay. in a situation when it is essential and urgent and provides consequences for finding of noncompliance. that is just on the side of the declared facilities. there is a whole set of requirements on the undeclared facilities. congressman, they are forever under enormous constraints here, with respect to inspections and accountability. they have to provide accountability for all the nuclear research and development activities not involving nuclear mattila t material. all kinds of things. >> as congress returns from their summer recess, the number one item for debate is the iran nuclear agreement. we are joined with our reporter from capitol hill. what is the time for debate? >> mitch mcconnell has said this is a issue they will return back to. the majority leader has asked that everyone send in their questions on the senate floor. if they can overcome a filibuster will, it will go to the house. if it passes through there as well, it will go to the presidents desk where he will likely veto it and then back down to congress. this is an issue the president is very supportive of. >> the deadline of september 17, why is there a deadline in there? >> the iran nuclear agreement review act basically allows for two months for congress to review the deal. it was originally going to be one month. they are giving themselves through the august recess, which we are coming back from now. then they turn right to this legislation. they vote to kill the deal or not. they will have want debates about this. >> on that debate, your article, the headline says the iran deal will survive the senate, talking about the number of democrats that supported. what about the whole process of a filibuster. are there enough votes to prevent this from ever getting to the president's desk? >> that is certainly a possibility. democrats and republicans said that could happen. they can override the veto. there is still a chance that a democrat can marshal enough forces to filibuster the bill from getting to the senate to the first place. they need 41 votes to do that. i do not have that yet, but it could be a possibility depending on how many people fall down one way or the other. >> as viewers watch the debate in congress, when congress returns, we will remind them they can keep track of where members are by looking at the hill, at thehill.com for more information. what opposition do opponents have in the likely event the resident vetoes this disapproval? >> if the president does veto and it is upheld, they can renew sections on iran that do not necessarily deal with the nuclear program. they will criticize the government and punish the government for the support of terrorist groups throughout the region. that is something lawmakers said they will already get started on. this is an agreement that could be largely undone by the next president. you see people like marco rubio who promised to say, if i was elected to the white house, i would not to fill the obligations of the deal. there is a lot of potential damage that could be done therefore the agreement, depending on what happens next november. >> majority wants congress to approve the iran deal. explain the partisan breakdown in congress, on the positions over this iran deal. >> there is more and more bipartisan debate. republicans say they do not like this deal, as a block. they think this will empower iran and terrorist groups in the region. many democrats have disagreed and say they support the deal. there are a couple key democrats, including chuck shuman in the house and ed royce in the house, who say the deal is bad and are siding with republicans. there is some bipartisan opposition to the deal. the question is whether or not there is enough democratic support to keep it alive and what that looks like going forward. >> is this turning into any kind of campaign issue in the early 2016 race? >> absolutely. many of come out to say this is an awful deal and they oppose it and would like to appeal it. bernie sanders and hillary clinton have supported the agreement. that is one key issue already playing out on the campaign trail right now. will see a little bit of this in the congressional race. there is some pressure on democrats up for reelection. a lot of what they say will be very closely watched and they will be hammered with it one way or the other in the next year or so until next november. >> read more at thehill.com and follow him on twitter. thank you for joining us. >> bob casey has come out in support of the deal. he relates the statement saying in part this agreement will substantially constrained to the iranian nuclear program for its duration, and compared with all realistic alternatives, it is the best option available to us at this time. we will have the debate on the iran nuclear deal here on c-span when members return. coming up on c-span, afl-cio president richard trumka on the u.s. labor movement and the 20 secretary kerry: jack lew 2015 . on the next "washington journal," the regulatory authority talks about the organization role as a non- governmental regulator of the securities industry. we'll have a look at the cadillac tax on the expensive health insurance plans. that tax goes into effect in 2018. we'll talk about that with kaiser health news. in our spotlight on magazine series, peter grier of the christian science monitor turns up to talk about his recent article on how americans decide who to vote for in presidential elections. "washington journal those quote is live for your phonecalls on c-span. secretary of state john kerry speaks about the iran nuclear agreement wednesday at the philadelphia constitution center. you can see it live at 11:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> the c-span cities tour, working with our cable authority . we are joined by our charters to learn about the life of colorado. >> especially here in mesa county, outside of grand junction, we are surrounded by morrison rock. within morrison rock we find a lot of dinosaur bones and fossils. that intrigues scientists for a long time. another thing we often find is a mineral called corn arnatite. it is radioactive. it was used by murray curie -- marie curie. during the buildup to world war ii and during world war ii itself, it was of extreme value. it also contains uranium. uranium, as we know is one of the best sources for atomic power and atomic weapons. >> the congressman was supportive through his water legislation. >> he fought the battle to reserve water for western colorado by making sure that we got our fair share. how did he do that? beginning in his state career and going onto his federal career, he climbed up the ladder of seniority and was able to exercise more power than you might normally have. certainly in the united states congress, where he was able to make sure colorado and western colorado would be treated fairly in any divisions of water. his first major success was the passage of the colorado river storage project in 1956. >> see all of the programs on saturday on c-span2, put tv. and on american history tv on c-span3. >> afl-cio president spoke with reporters tuesday about the u.s. labor movement. his organization's role and the democratic primaries and the presidential election. the christian science monitor hosted this hour-long event. >> ok, here we go. thank you for coming, everyone. wow. we will have some people join us in progress, as they say in tv land. i am dave cook. our guest today is richard trumka, president of the afl-cio. we thank him for coming back. he grew up in the pennsylvania area and followed his father and grandfather into the mines. he worked his way through penn state university and earned a law degree in 1974. at age 33 he was elected president of the united mine workers of america, the end this person in history to hold the position. he served three terms as president and brought the mine workers into the afl-cio. he ran to be secretary-treasurer of the afl-cio and became the young this person to hold that position when he served for 15 years. he was elected as president of the afl-cio in september 2009 and reelected in 2013. that ends the biographical portion. now want to breakfast mechanics. let me begin by noting that many of you work with gerry gilmore, who recently accepted a job on capitol hill. his successor is christina, standing back there by the door. she has two masters degrees, speaks for linkages, and organizes events for the london school of economics. it is great to have her here. please, no live blogging or tweeting. that'll give us time to actually listen to what the guest are saying. please resist the selfie urge. as regular attendees know, if you would like to ask a question, do the traditional thing and send me a signal and i will happily call on one and all. .. every layer time to retire that old chestnut because it's just not true. had 2015, there's an untold story about the rising tide of people finding new and innovative ways to create a better life. this in face of the corporate opposition, archaic labor laws and gridlock in washington. it's a story that's taken place and towns around the factories offices and and among ordinary people who decided they could stand together to make a difference. quite frankly, the momentum hasn't gone unnoticed completely. a recent poll shows support for highest, sinces 2008, with 58% of people expressions approval, 63% of women and the really good news to 34 is workers from 18 support unions by 66%. we have the obama administration that's preparing to host a white voicesummit on workers' in the fall so from main street to the white house, our country taking notice of the different ways working people are on the rise. and so with that, having said aat, i want to wish everybody happy labor day but more working lifea safe year.st of the >> let me be knee-jerk, as you say. talk about what you're path of change the laborship, the latest department report showed that union membership was down just .2%, from the previous the, at 11.1%, and that number of workers in union was little changed. newre you expecting this and innovative ways and the rise to actually impact your membership numbers, sir? or do you see it accomplishing need to accomplish without necessarily needing to grow membership? some ofka: i think it's both, david. you have workers are finding innovative ways to come together to raise wages and this, by the way, 2015 is going to be a for collective bargaining. five million of our members are this year contracts and so far the average wage 4.3% so has been about we're starting to push wages up likef you look at places wal-mart and target and ikea, are cominglaces together to push for wage increases. so you're seeing a lot of forms, innovative forms of collective action and wouldher thing that i think is if you notice, we are drivingorkers are now the debate about the economy. we drove the debate on trade. it was a different debate this time around. most of the time it's the neanderthals versus free trade, free tradest versus and it wasn't this time. it was about whether the trade agreement was good enough, rules were good enough. we changed that debate. we changed the debate on inequality, presidential candidates are all starting to address that. so -- and then in the meantime we've also organized workers, alabama andrs in afscme organized 135,000 members into their union in the first three months of 2014 2014 -- 2015 so it's a combination of workers coming collectively to demand a better deal and then those workers coming together also to form unions. david: can you talk about the selection of a democratic presidential candidate. to press reports, you met with the vice president biden last thursday. where does the endorsement process stand and is biden a fit for labor? mr. trumka: the vice president friend and great champion of working people but the next phase of his in publics career service is a decision for him his family. i don't know whether he would run or not but he has been a ofd friend and a champion working people. david: you're not going to do an morningent here this unfortunately. do you see bernie sanders as especially skilled in talking about the concerns of working people? mr. trumka: i think he's connected. he has a unique and genuine way of talking about the most in politics and that's inequality in america but our processin before -- i don't endorse anybody. i announce what our members want to do, quite frankly. we've encouraged our affiliates to do, each and every go back and talk to your members. give them the facts honestly where candidates stand and then find out their wants and that out,you find then endorse that candidate and work that candidate to make sure adhere to the policies espoused and when we come together, we'll have our affiliates come together after haveprocess is done, we'll a debate and eventually we'll endorse a candidate. endorse a candidate, it will be representative of what our membership wants, needs and really desires. david: we're going to rick khao and robert celebinger, amanda to start. >> the browning ferris case. see congress this fall, republicans in congress, taking an aggressive approach to trying that and doblock you see democrats backing up the congress?democrats in mr. trumka: i think you will see an aggressive approach by republicans to start anything that helps workers get a fair shake. they've done that repeatedly for the last several years. it again.do i would expect two things. democrats,ect friends of workers to stand up to defend that decision because a right and fair decision and two, i would expect that the ever did get it through, the president would .eto it >> gallup this morning released obama'showing president approval rating among union 52%, down down to from 69%. mr. trumka: i can't hear you. gallup has released a new poll showing president obama's approval rating among union workers is down to 52%, one point off of its low, and down when he was from elected and re-elected. how do you explain his sliding labor?g among mr. trumka: he's still represented by 52%. be a lot ofe would that would hov -- to have 52%. he's tried hard. he hasn't done everything that done --and we haven't he hasn't done everything we agree. with i think you're seeing the residuals of t.p.p. our members understand the importance of a good free trade helpment that really does workers and changes the rules of the environment because you've group ofe nafta a rules designed to lower wages, give corporations more entitlement and we want an end to that so you're seeing the residuals of that. he supported it firmly, still oppose it.e david: do you agree with the "new york times" story this that in his argues second term obama's taken a turn helping workers with various regulation? do you notice a change? mr. trumka: i would say he's probably been more overtly pro term. in the second you have overtime rules that we've talked about. his appointments that he'd made to various places. wage increases he's given to federal employees, his starting openly about how bargainingollective is for workers to raise their standard of living. the fact that he's having a the whites year at house to talk about collective bargaining and increasing the workers' voice. comenk all of those together to say, yeah, i think in the second term he has done. now, when you talk about regulations, there's also health regulations and something that genuinely me.ers country 150 this workers die from injuries received on the job or health, diseases they pick up. 150. knew that and you i'll bet not one of you has written about that. of you's concerned about it because they die quietly. who died from black lung, died at home after years lung,fering from black expired. we haven't seen the needed regulations keep pace with the environment of the work place. to get been trying regulations passed for silica. they're finally starting to move years. mine health and safety regulations, they start to move then every disaster and they slow down after their mine that leave the has smoke belching out of it, regulations slow down. we kill 150 workers every day in this country. anyone.that bother shouldn't you right about that. demand a safe work place? isn't that something everybody's to?tled in my opinion, yeah. so when you talk about haven't donewe anything near enough when it comes to health and safety regulations. >> i want to take you back a and ago to your remarks simply your answer to my about the political thes of the afl-cio in elections of last year and governorlly you said, walker of wisconsin was public enemy number one, your phrase, revealed that the a freshwould have target in texas, that there was great opportunity to make ofitical gains on the issue regulation and new workers coming into the workplace, placed priority on texas. of those states went strongly republican. walker is a presidential governor perry is a presidential candidate. mr. trumka: really? >> looking back, what do you think -- are you going to change your goal and put a different yoursis for 2016 on agenda? mr. trumka: our goal then and our goal now is a simple thing. it's called raising wages agenda. you remember at the beginning of the year we started off with a summit talking about raising wages agenda and we had academics in, we had politicians in, we had business people in, and we talked about raising wages. that is still the yardstick and are usingoal that we in every election. we did make gains in texas. we built tremendous grand strength there and we did a job there andnal that continues to grow. walker, i have -- i've said i need to say about him. [laughter] mr. trumka: he is a national asgrace and he's still national disgrace and, yeah, he's a candidate but we'll see that ends up. now fifth in iowa. he was leading there for a while andthere is no there there people discovered that and we will see what happens in this presidential election, whether walker or rick perry are the nominees. only pray. >> both states target wisconsin year?xas next mr. trumka: we will go on a states.f we haven't decided on all the targets right now. we're focused on pennsylvania right now because we have a race on in 2015. we'll focus on kentucky because there in 2015. tore not looking beyond 2015 2016 right now. 2015.looking at david: amanda becker from reuters. [indiscernible] reporter: insisting that the candidates -- and what role would the federation play if we end up with a that doesn'tminee support -- what role would the federation play in the scenario in which we may have a intoratic candidate going the general that isn't with labor on key issues, will that way you interface? mr. trumka: i don't know it's fair to say there are candidates on the democratic side that aren't with labor on key issues. you're seeing, when you clearly path, how populace popular you get and how the support gets very, very activated. candidates that try to skirt the issues, not talking about where t.p.p. hurts you when it comes to activating the generalip and the populace. they want to know where people they disagree with you, they want to know where you are. so i think any candidate will and give aome active clear path on how they're going to raise wages and the role we catalyst to make sure that, one, any candidate that ultimately gets the support of articulated a has clear path to a shared economy, how they would change the rules the economy work for everyone and then, two, after our role would be to make sure we hold them accountable so that they make reality after they get elected. reporter: i want you to weigh in not you're with brady in the deflate gate issue. we had a kid die in a mine in an accident and it got a lot of thingsike you say these do and then it disappeared. expect out of the obama administration? what do you think you'd be able to get in the area of safety? mr. trumka: the first let me give you the positive. president obama named joe mane to head emshaw and he is probably the most effective -- emshaw thatre i have seen in my lifetime. he does a great job. he enforces the law and he is doing everything he can to make mines safer and he is making despite some short comings in the regulations. the same with osha. head of osha is doing a great job enforcing the act. is a very weak act that makes it difficult to enforce. areresources they have totally inadequate. fournk if they take them or 500 years to inspect every workplace in the country just time, which isn't much of a deterrent. to focus on the resources that osha has but he's good job there. think regulation side, i for most of the first term and the beginning of the second he was baited by republicans talking about too regulations and he said, the show you, so regulations just stopped. silica is an example. everybody's known the dangers of silica. by the way, seven people die every day from silicosis, seven every day. sundays, holidays, every day -- seven die every day. not my workers, workers across the country. theycould be carpenters, could be cement works breathing noica because there's standard for silica in this country. every other industrialized has a standard for it. we don't. this for 100bout years. a you remember your history, place called hawk's nest. happened in west virginia in the 1920's. they were drilling a tunnel through a mountain for a young workers started dying after three, four, five months. that theyid silica were drilling through and they were getting silicosis and dying started studying it and found out that silica's bad for it butwe've known about the standards in this country are totally inadequate. o.m.b. for almost two years, o.m.b. doing nothing. to get they're required the regulation out for over 60 days. what they were doing, sitting on it or what. but they didn't do what they it outquired to do, get one way or the other. we finally talked to the convinced them, now.e've gotten it moving we'll see where it goes. if it doesn't get done by the thenf the administration, it's not likely to happen president, if it justa republican, would whack all of those and we'd have to start all over again. david: kevin joseph, "new york times." reporter: i'm curious, you said is don't know what joe biden thinking but do you want him to run? do you want to see the field point?at this talked to a lot of member union folks talking about the head decision between bernie sanders. mr. trumka: what? reporter: head versus heart decision between bernie sanders and hillary clinton. bernie they seem to like but hillary is more likely to get the nomination. up in thee coming polls, do you sense a shift with your member unions in terms of him a more serious look? how are you perceiving the a biden campaign? mr. trumka: first of all i think the field is still wide open. there's still a lot of time. in elections gone by, they hadn't even announced yet day the year before the election, and the campaigns took off labor day before the election. that's when everything, people and gotlistening accelerated. so there's a lot of time for things to happen and for issues to unfold and we keep pushing those issues. them and making thoseates respond and respond with sharp answers that our workers can identify that thoseses the needs of workers, they get the support. not just, i'm going to vote for them. but they get active support and that's the difference between having supporters, ok, i'll come people that, and will work between now and election day. so that i think makes a large difference. i said everything there is to say about joe biden. biden's a good friend, he's been a champion of working people and he's got to decide whether he's going to run or not. he's got a lot on his shoulders, i'd say and when you commit to run for president, you guys unfold every crease, you badger that isver stuff totally irrelevant, out in the great but you make it issues. david: that's the jobs program. mr. trumka: i don't fault you for it. sometimes i do. but he has to decide whether focus forhe full that. he and his family and i don't know the answer to that. he knows the answer to that. he would be awe good candidate. he would be a good president. his decision is his decision and ons going to fall completely him. reporter: i don't know you've by namelary clinton yet. mr. trumka: i haven't said name except his name because you asked me specifically. reporter: can you talk about how you're feeling about hillary clinton at this point? mr. trumka: i think these an experienced person. i think she would make a great president. out ak she has to figure way to energize workers and that's come up with a narrative believes in and two, she's willing to fight for because that's the litmus test workers look at. likean mouth empty words, jeb bush said, inequality in this country is terrible. worker believes he'll address it in a way that works for them do, anyways. she has to come up with that narrative and if she does, she can catch fire, too. she's got the drag of all the other issues. this in the past and i'll say it again. hillary clinton has to do a-plus work to get a c. why?ou know i think because she's a woman. that's tough in this country and it's something that male candidates don't have overcome. reporter: i wanted to ask you about the gig economy and specifically uber and lift. are the afl-cio contemplating to address the gig economy? mr. trumka: first of all, we've of them.ch the economies i give you -- i listed, i'll find them in a second. but you see what happened in seattle. seattle's passing a regulation that gives everybody, uber people, everybody the right to collectively bargain, to have a collective voice. so that those workers, that they try to say are independent and we don't have anything to do with them, now they're going to at least in going to be tougher. the same with the decision from year.rb last , any franchisees that you control, yeah, you're part of the employer and you run away from them. that's going to make it easier butthem to get a voice we've done gawker, we've done salon. of those have arganized just recently. and i'll find all of them in a second. i can't remember everything off the top of my head, as brilliant am. or not as brilliant as i am. them.s, i'll find can't find them. josh, you have that list of snings cansalon and that?v -- give me i hate to walk away from that you. without giving it to if we get it later, my highly multilingual assistant can send it to everybody in the room. talk to: i wanted to you about the minimum wage campaign across the country. specifically, do you have a threshold in mind for minimum you support the $15-an-hour wage and if so, how that conclusion that $15 an hour is the right wage for workers. mr. trumka: here it is, gawker, vice, the guardian and salon, digital outlets have joined unions recently. reporter: the minimum wage across the country and threshold. fastu have a hard and threshold. how do you come up with a minimum wage? mr. trumka: it shouldn't be a be aum wage, it ought to working wage. work shouldn't trap people in poverty but it should lift them out of poverty. if you work for minimum wage, you earn below the poverty level. $15 is a good minimum wage but out to be a living wage and grow with the economy as the economy grows. number ofrgeted a cities with those campaigns in effect. last election, five states increased the minimum wage significantly and two cities did, as well, one at least to $15. others even places like aresville, alabama, discussing it right now and other places. the cities that we have, we off with 10 cities. it's now 14 cities because we it where weities to have campaigns going on to do that internally. and to do things like we've done in seattle, to start talking about ways to address places, that were left behind because of archaic labor laws classifying, somebody as an independent contractor and saying yeah, i butrol all of your work you're independent, i don't have to deal with you. so we're working on those. again, shouldge, be a living wage and indexed to inflation.

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