Working in the same exact position, same exact job, same qualifications, making 72 cents on the dollar for what a man makes in the same position. So paycheck fairness, i think we actually have a real chance to pass this year, despite the fact, on the democratic side were in the minority. I think there has been movement, some, on the republican side of the aisle. Its absolutely needed. And theres some who say, well, you know, of course thats wrong, but legislation isnt really needed. The market will fix itself. Well, it hasnt. And the market hasnt fixed itself for 50 years. And weve clearly had instance after instance come out in the courts that show women are discriminated against at places, in the workplace. So having that paycheck fairness is incredibly important. Its both its a womens issue, but its also a broader economic issue. And do you have bipartisan support on it . We have some. I would like to get more. But were continuing to reach out, and i am confident if it were called for a vote tomorrow, there are absolutely the votes to pass it. The question is getting Republican Leadership to actually call it. And thats the trick right now, because the congress is very much at loggerheads, as it has been for a long time. I know thats gonna be the tricky part with keeping the Affordable Care act in place. Republicans have that in their vision, of course, as one of their top three things to tumble in washington. They want to cut medicaid, as well. They also want to shrink the pell grants. So, how hard is it to try to put forth some legislation knowing you have such a hard roadblock ahead of you . Its always difficult, but i faced the same thing as a state legislator in harrisburg. Especially at a time of divided government, when you have the legislature in the hands of one party and the executive whether its the Governors Mansion in pennsylvania or the white house in d. C. , when its in the hands of another party, youre gonna have that friction. Hopefully it doesnt prevent everything from happening. That people can actually come together Newt Gingrich and bill clinton in the 1990s were a great example of two very partisan folks who actually came together and produced some landmark pieces of legislation and compromise. My concern right now is that unfortunately, particularly on the republican side, you have about 30, 35 socalled Tea Party Members who absolutely refuse to allow Speaker Boehner to call up any sort of compromise legislation that would pass overwhelmingly. So, they wont even budge an inch, it doesnt sound like. The funding of Homeland Security passed three to one. About half of the House Republicans voted for it. Every single democrat voted for it. That was the bill that he wouldnt bring up for four months because of feeling that he was held hostage by the extreme voices in his caucus. We have to break away from allowing the extreme voices to dictate to the other 70 , 80 of us. Mm, thats the hard part. And i know you support the Social Security 2100 act, which would extend Social Security and balance it, if you will, on an actuarial basis, but it would make it solvent for another 75 years. Otherwise, it will be only another 10 or 11. It seems like that would be a win for everyone on paper, but there could be some pushback there, too. There certainly has been pushback. You know, on one of the this is part ideological. I mean, there are those who are attempting to push the point of view that Social Security is running out of money and needs to dramatically be changed. I always point out the fact that in the 80 years of its existence, Social Security has always run a surplus. Its always actually brought in more revenue than its paid out. You had, during that entire period of time, that surplus being spent on other government priorities. Now, you do have a situation where, beginning in the early 2030s, because of a demographic shift, you wont have enough money coming in, for the first time ever, to pay all the expenditures going out. But there are little fixes we can do to the system now that dont include benefit cuts. Mmhmm. We just make these fixes now, we could actually extend the program to 2100. Im very concerned that, as a country, were getting away from these sort of retirementsecurity programs and privatizing everything. There is absolutely a role for the private sector and for vigorous business expansion, but there is also a role for government, too. Social security has been a tremendous success. We have to do everything to save it and preserve the integrity of it. And, quickly, studentloan refinancing. That would seem, again, like something that people could get behind from both sides of the aisle, but not always. No. Well, this is a personal issue to me, as im one of the few members of congress who himself has tens of thousands of dollars of studentloan debt, being on the younger side. Mmhmm. This is an enormous problem not just for an entire generation and a future generation coming up, but it is actually an economic problem for the whole country. Studentloan debt is now the largest source of debt in the united states. Wow. Its over 1 trillion. So it bears looking at. It has gone up fivefold just in the last decade. So, that is actually having a drag on our overall economy. And thats not just me saying it. Its actually wall street banks that have pointed that out. So, making sure that we can refinance this existing debt at a lower interest rate, making it easier for people to repay actually, not forgiving any of the debt, but just simply refinancing it, that would put more money in their pockets that they can, in turn, spend in the economy. All right. Congressman boyle, thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Well have our inside story panel coming up next to discuss the issues. Inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city, powered by the world. Temple. Edu takecharge. Why are dwight evans, marian tasco and so many other leaders backing jim kenney for mayor . Because jim kenneys the one they trust. Jim kenneys the one with a real record of standing up for Public Schools and hell bring philadelphia together. Its kenney who will expand prekindergarten. And partner with businesses, Community Colleges and universities to create jobs. So join leaders we trust in supporting jim kenney the block by block mayor philadelphia needs. vo at jennieo, we heard of a place in iowa where every thursday people ride ten miles for tacos. We thought wed show up and surprise them with a better kind of taco, made with jennieo ground turkey, cooked thoroughly to 165. mom id feed my kids turkey tacos over regular tacos any day. woman i think that theyre light and theyre just fresh tasting. vo its time for a better taco. kid the tacos tonight were pretty much perfect. vo make the switch. Look for jennieo ground turkey at a store near you. Welcome back to inside story. Time to meet our panelists this week. And they are sharmain matlockturner thank you for being here a nonprofit executive. Val digiorgio, attorney. Welcome back. Terry madonna with the f m poll. Good morning, terry. And christine flowers, attorney and journalist. Welcome to all of you. Lets dive right into the philadelphia mayors race, because we had a second big debate last week. A Major Incident within the first several minutes. Lynne abraham, one of the candidates, fainted on stage. A doctor was called. She was told not to finish the debate. She was back out on the campaign trail the next day and appears to be back up to speed. But some people say this really goes to the heart of one of her challenges, which was questions about her age and whether she would have the stamina to have such a rigorous job. Other people say this is recoverable and a nobigdeal situation. Shes a strong candidate. Whats your reaction . Well, i think i agree with the latter statement. I dont think this is a serious problem in the campaign. The problem, it seems, that all of them had who has the money, who has the Organizational Support . Its kenney and williams. And, you know, im not gonna articulate that this is a twoperson race, but i think everybody else is playing catchup. When you have money, when you have the organization and lets be candid about it, this is also about television. Its about ads. Its about who works in the wards. Those two candidates seemingly have the network, and i would call them, regardless of the party polls, the candidate polls its a pollster which i dont pay any attention to would indicate, i think, you know, its gonna be tough for other candidates to break into that twoperson block with kenney picking up momentum particularly in the last two weeks. But theres no doubt now there will be a legitimate call for her to release her medical records and discuss the age issue. Shes 74. That wasnt that old for ronald reagan, but maybe in this case some people say it might be in this case. Well, i dont know that despite what the polls have been showing, i dont know that she was really a factor, too. I think it is and i am willing to say, i think it has been a twoperson race and will be a twoperson race. Williams and kenney racking up the endorsements, racking up the Party Support and the money. The moneys gonna be the difference here. Tonys gonna be able to show that he has this race, i think, will boil down to education at the end of the day. Thats what the polls show. Anthonys got a message on education. Its gonna make him formidable at the end of the day. Kenney is racking up the endorsements. I think its between the two of them. And at the end of the day, i think its messaging thats gonna win the race. And theres no doubt in philadelphia, it has historically come down sometimes, to a matter of race being one of the major factors. Perhaps again in this race perhaps not. Whats your take on that . Because if you want to call the racial card, jim kenneys a white candidate, Anthony Hardy williams africanamerican. Jim kenney just got some key endorsements from other africanamericans hes served with longtime on city council and in other ways dwight evans, marian tasco and some africanamerican leaders in town were not as happy as they wanted to be with that decision. Well, it seems, at the surface level, to be very surprising that there would be some established africanamerican leaders in the community throwing their lot behind jim kenney, who is extremely progressive, but who is not an africanamerican. However, i think if you look at it from a different perspective, there are people who are very disenchanted with Anthony Williams because of his stand on Charter Schools because of other because of a certain moderation, actually in his views. And so i think it actually tactically make sense for those who opposed him to throw their lot in to support an opposing candidate of those two candidates. But i just want to go back very quickly to something about Lynne Abraham. I had interviewed Lynne Abraham for an article about three days before that last mayoral debate. She was extremely energetic, extremely vital. I think, you know, youre coming up against the edges of ageism when you start saying that this momentary faint is going to completely deepsix and color her campaign. And i think ageism is just as bad as sexism is just as bad as racism, and i think we should take a look at what were doing when we try and make that a very big deal, which i think she can recover from it. Yeah. And i just want to follow up on christines point as well. I mean, i was there when it happened, and we were certainly all just aghast. And, you know, thank goodness she was okay. And she was up and out talking to the press by the end of the debate. So, she wasnt sort of, like incapacitated for a long period of time. And i do believe that, you know, this issue is not gonna be the overriding issue for her. Shes got to decide whether or not she is going to use sex in a way that really helps her. And that is, is she gonna try to appeal to women voters as the only woman candidate whos in this race who has a real opportunity to win it when she initially started out on top. So, i think theres still a lot of time to go. We know that Anthony Hardy williams had his own list of City Council Members and people from the Africanamerican Community stand up with him this week, as well. Its gonna get down to, now, i think, that all the endorsements are out, where are the voters really gonna be, and whats gonna be the best way to reach them . Everybody keeps saying to me this one thing tv. Mm. Of course. Thats the bottom line. For williams, he did have to pay an 8,000 fine because of some Campaign Donations that went over the limits. There are differences in the state requirements, the national requirements, the local requirements. It can get a little confusing. Was it an accounting error, or do you think it was simply that they really have so much money going that they in philadelphia, this isnt even a drop in the bucket. I mean, this is relatively minor. Its not gonna matter. I think theres a rational explanation when you transfer money from a state campaign committee. Remember, in state politics, you run for a state office, you can give any amount of money at any time, and the candidates can virtually use it for and incumbents for anything they want. And you bump into the limits that, you know, exist in the city of philadelphia, and i dont think thats a big deal. Back to the racial question real quickly. If in the end, if one candidate were to pull out, if Lynne Abraham or doug oliver or any of the others who didnt have as strong of a showing in the most recent poll, which did show williams and. And kenney. Kenney at loggerheads, really, 25 to 26 , almost at a dead heat, that would throw a huge change into the numbers themselves. Do you believe that race will come down to the deciding factor in this race . I think race will be a deciding factor. Messaging is gonna be important. You know, we talk about endorsements, we talk about money, but its messaging, too. You know, you got a third of the children in the Philadelphia School district as many as a third in Charter Schools, and thats a lot of parents, thats a lot of votes. And tonys talking about Charter Schools. And i think the race is shaping up between sort of the old line, support the union line support the Teachers Union, versus, lets have a message that appeals to parents who care about the way their children are being educated. And i think thats the dichotomy here between kenney and tony and were gonna see whether philadelphia voters really care about having the tried and true Teachers Union come out and support our candidate versus somebody whos thinking outside the box on education like tony. But i think people are also thinking about the economy, too, and are trying to figure out what is going to happen as it relates to jobs and opportunity. You know, is this going to be a place that people can ultimately grow and see their families grow, and that there are gonna really be some jobs . So, thats why i think you see the pushpull between the two candidates. Sure. They both care, i think about education. They both care about the city. One has a vision about, maybe, what the future looks like. The other one is very much concerned about whats happening with working families. I want to see the debate. Im glad that were having a robust debate in our community about these issues. We need it. And there was a tricky quote last week. Doug oliver stirred up the pot a little bit when he made a comment about africanamerican men and law enforcement. We have the quote that we want to show you. Was it taken out of context . Well discuss it very quickly. His quote was. What part you didnt see, when i read the entire context of it, was he also said, and black men have good reason to be afraid of police because of profiling because of many other issues where there have been cases all over the nation, obviously where theres been unjust violence against africanamerican men who werent even armed. So, on the one hand, we just see the one part of the quote. Others said, though, that he really was taken out of context in this. And what do you guys think . Thats a complete oversimplification of the issue, to say that police, who are professionals, who go to training, who are paid to do a job, would take a whole group of people and say, im afraid of that whole group. I think it was clearly a mistake. I saw him earlier in the week. And i think he admitted, during the debate, that it was a mistake. It just didnt make any sense. But i also think it is unfair and its a mistake to say that black men, as a group, fear the police. Because we just came through the death of officer Robert Wilson an africanamerican Police Officer who died, right. You cant i agree with you, sharmain. You cant distill it down to these simplistic terms. You know all of this and all of that. All of this and all of that. And i think the problem was, with doug oliver, hes in a soundbite society, where people are they dont have the patience to listen to the context of a comment. It is true to say, you cant be afraid of the police, or you cant be afraid of, you know youth in the black community. Did it harm him, terry . Oh, i think so. But heres the bigger point. Look, weve got to come to a realization, just as, you know the president did when he formed the task force to deal with it that theres a serious community theres a serious Community Problem in the Minority Community and with the police, and weve got to address it collectively. One side of it cant address it. We cant all go back into our bunkers and say, well, youre the problem. The other side says, no, youre the problem. We need to sit dow