the afl-cio and the chamber of congress -- chamber of commerce ran congress and give them a score of zero to 100. zero means you never voted the way we wanted you to on these key bills that we determined were important and 100 means you always voted the way we wanted you to. looking at the afl-cio scores of the chamber of commerce kohr's legislators from the working-class tend to be more liberal and closer to what the afl-cio wants an further from what the chamber of commerce wants. legislators whose and more of their careers in white-collar jobs especially in business or the private sector tend to be more conservative. they tend to be closer to what the chamber wants. >> host: i mentioned earlier the sanchez example. i think that illustrates the question of why look at occupation. why not look at education and why not look at income level? could you talk about the sanchez example and occupation? >> guest: in the book i talk about linda and loretta sanchez. they are i believe the first sisters to ever -- in 2003 that became the first sisters to simultaneously serve in congress. what

did congress say no to that? repeatedly congress said no. they sided with us consumers. but then that was written into the world trade organizations and we had to conform our laws. did congress agree to lock in 65,000 h-1-v visas? not in their own. that was in the w.t.o. too. so we had to conform our immigration law. or how about meat and poultry safety? think about all the meat that comes into the country meets u.s. standards? that was true before nafta and w.t.o. we had to rewrite those laws to conform to a rule that requires us to import things that are equivalent, determined by the other country. etc., etc., etc. now, what's up with fast track politically is directly related to the attack on congress' jurisdiction authority and the negative outcomes these trade agreements have had for the public. since nafta, fast track has become exceedingly unpopular. so after nafta passed, president clinton was unable to ever get fast track trade authority again. an important fact the congressional history is that actually congress, on a bipartisan majority in the house of represe

and eventually wound up in congress. fast-forward to the present day and the average number spent less than 2% of their career doing manual labor jobs and service industry jobs and so through lots of different aspects of the political process and cable news and the rising elections and politics and the decline of the unions and while all of this is happening, there is, you know, one of the constance during that, during the last 100 years or so is the working class people are not getting elected to the political office. >> host: one founding father that you mentioned a couple times in the book and his view that the merchant is probably going to be able to represent the worker, probably has his best interest at heart. it sounds like from your data through the studies that you've looked at you don't think that is the case. also was there another founding father that you didn't mention? >> guest: i am glad you brought up the founding fathers. the question i talked about in this book is does it matter that working class peopl

but this congress is not like other congresses. tomorrow the house will decide whether this plastic gun ban still is an easy call, even under pressure from parts of the gun lobby. good luck to us all. >>> the train derailment yesterday in new york city, the commuter train that went off the rails at a place called spuyten duyvil north of manhattan, that crash remains under investigation tonight. four people were killed, more than 60 people were injured when multiple cars of that train flew off the tracks. it was a horrific crash which would have been all the more horrific had the derailed cars slid into the nearby river which they very nearly did, or if there had been more people on board the train when it crashed. initial reports put the total number of people on board at the time of the crash at only about 100. it was a very early-morning train on the sunday after thanksgiving coming into new york city, so it was just not crowded by luck. but of those 100 people, again, a majority of the people on the train suffered at least some

the problem is congress. you cannot blame the bureaucracy, you muslim congress. >> is wasteful spending got better in your time here? >> people are looking at it more appropriately. i am not sure i can quantify it. the budget is larger than it was. we are twice the size we were in 2001. the budget in terms of total quantity is better. wasteful spending is twice as much or not, i am not sure. whether washington knows or not, the american people know it. if you look at all the surveys of what they think is wasteful ending -- what are they to think? were going to get airplanes, and half of them we will put in the desert. what do they think about that? it does not fit with common sense. it is not a good enough answer. it will not be a good answer in the long run, because it will directly impact these ended up living. should we have $9 trillion worth of savings? years? should we not raise taxes and spending? we have done is what the career politicians want us to do. that is what will go down on the senate floor to

if you sort of reweight news of congress that you get this congress that looks like the country as a whole, a congress that's got the same mix of occupations as the united states. landmark conservative economic policies, several landmark conservative economic policies wouldn't have reached a majority vote in a congress that looked like the country as a whole. including the 2001 bush tax cuts, which most people regard as pretty regressive visions of the federal tax code. so that they come from that, this is of course all just simulation. i can't really tell you what a class balanced congress would have done with george w. bush's tax proposals. what i can tell you is, you know, if we just reweight members of congress so our institution, our congress looks like all of us, you can't pass the 2001 bush tax cuts or lots of other conservative economic policies. >> host: why are there so few working-class people in the congress historically? >> guest: so that's i think, that's the million-dollar question. politicians from the working-class are incredibly rare. i'm saying in this book that's

. >> coming up, how bad was congress this year, the congress labelled the do-nothing congress passed six times as many bills as this. >> and harmela aregawi is web. >> a new study find 20% of the world is living on over $1 a day. i'll tell you more coming up. join the conversation on twitter at aj "consider this" and on facebook and google+ pages. every sunday night join us for exclusive, revealing and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. this sunday. >> we try to be funny in serious stories which is very, very rare. >> he made radio cool with his sense of humor, insight and curiosity. he opened a new window into american life. >> before they know it we're actually able to present something new that they haven't heard about. >> talk to al jazeera with ira glass. was -- prince william was dating kate middleton. >> ross shimabuku is here with sport. >> dennis rodman is in north korea to train basketball players for an upcoming player. he wants everyone to know he's not a joke. this is the same guy who dressed up in a wedding gown and will rite a book with his

congress has gone back to work. the passage of a new spending bill will avoid another government shutdown. the house is expected to close this friday for christmas break. >>> french forces are on the ground in central african republic. sectarian violence has engulfed the area since march. >>> in the town tha where nelson mandela grew up. "inside story" is next. >> the united states congress has plenty of work to do but during this session that hasn't been any guarantee the work will get done. clogging the inbox, spending times for the military and argentinagriculture. looming deadlines and more on "inside story." >> hello, i'm ray sores. the debate on the unemployment benefits for the jobless, year end deadlines demand action. we're going to focus on the work of the 113th congress. there is a glimmer of good news, and that's where we start. >> negotiations are making progress, moving in the right direction. they haven't closed the deal. >> congress has until the end of this week to approve another budget plan. they'

the congress does. the congress has not been enormously bigger to exercise that authority in my lifetime. but that's a very publi compensd subject and a subject of -- >> and two, mr. lazarus. >> between congress and executive branch there is a war powers act. there's dispute about how -- >> let me pick it up from there. i'm militating this point that if there's an incremental march, the president overreaching its constitutional authority in my opinion, i think the opinion of many people on this committee in this room, he could assume any of the enumerated powers and the recourse that congress would have all the way down to the declaration of war, and the recourse that congress would have would be passed a resolution of disapproval, or we could shut off the funding to the power over the purse and the president has already assumed the power of the purse. so the next recourse is go to the courts, and if we find out that the courts do not grant stand for members of congress, then the next recourse is i thin

congress repeatedly declined to pass it. the president has announced that he would enforce the act as been enacted. to takeident's duty is care that the laws be faithfully executed. not those bills which fail to act.e law, like the dream finally, i will mention the irs targeting. "faithfully" means anything, i would say that it means non-discriminatorily. president cannot enforce the laws in a discriminatory manner. the story of the irs -- the application of the tax laws to the enemies in political a discriminatory way -- this is mostps the single troubling type of enforcement discrimination. way, perhaps the most troubling violation of the publication to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. thank you. >> thank you, mr. lazarus, welcome. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you all members of the committee who are here. i have to disagree with my on the panel who have spoken so far. brandishing the take care clause become a favored talking of an arrayponents of obama administration policies and actions. eff

congress passed just 56 laws. capitol hill may not be good. >> the 113th hasn't passed the bills every congress does like a highway or defense bill or farm bill or a budget. what do we need a budget for. not for highways, defense or food. >> in september congress approved a grant for the minute men missile national historic site in south dakota to include additional parking space. the 113th united states congress. bad at creating jobs. good at creating parking spaces at strange historical monuments in the middle of nowhere. >> heat from the late night comics. capitol hill may not be good at legislation, but lawmakers are good at passing the buck. they point the finger at the democratic-controlled senate. >> to date the house passed nearly 150 bills. this congress that the united states senate has failed to act on. the senate, the president, and i continue to stand in the way of the people's priorities. >> democrats led by the president blame house republicans for the reluctance to compromise. >> let me end by addr

the argument was, congress lacks the power asserted by congress in the affordable care act pursuant to article 1,section 8, clause 3, the commerce clause, to tell individual americans that they must buy a product -- health insurance; not just any health insurance but that specific kind of health insurance that congress in its infinite wisdom deemed absolutely essential for every american to purchase. so it asserted that congress lacks this power under the commerce clause. the lawsuit also alleged that congress lacked the power to tell states that the states had to expand their medicaid programs and gave the states no choice; that this, too, violated the constitution; that it exceeded certain limitations on congress's power because the courts have long recognized that congress lacks the power to commandeer the stat states' legislative machinery mured to carry out a -- in order to carry out a federal program. congress has the power to ask states to do this, but it lacks the power to direct a state to do "x" or "y" or "z." we can't tell a state just because we want it to be done. we might

congress in the history of u.s. congresses, people. oh yeah. this congress passed less legislation and made less policy and law than literally any other congress in the history of our country back to the beginning pl they're on track to set the record, that's not even counting the fact that while they were doing no legislating at all, they managed to shut down the federal government almost default on the national debt. say you have a car up on blocks in the yard. it doesn't run. in addition to being on blocks and not running, you manage to push the car off the blocking and on to your foot. your car also managed to break your toes. that's what this congress is. and in this met for, you pay your car $174,000 a year to be on blocks. this congress has been amazing for a very long time. this year will set the record for congress doing less than ever before, but the record before this year will be last year. the first year that john boehner took over as speaker. this congress is amazing. but small glimmer of hope today. a tiny blink and you might mis

and this is part of congress in the fight, okay, it really is the working-class members of congress and there are some part of this with the working-class city councils and we should see policy outcomes changing. and that is exactly what we see. including what percentage of eight bigger budget is part of it. like you would expect, the congressional level, cities have more working-class people and they tend to spend a social safety net program and part of the exact tipping point. and even at the city level, there's a severe shortage of politicians and working-class. and i think the important take-home is that we do see what you expect. which is when you add more working-class people to a legislature, in this case a city council, policy moves in this direction towards the outcome that working-class people are supporting. >> is there a history when there was a peak? and during the 70s? during the civil rights movement? >> okay, so this is an interesting thing. there's essentially no change at the congressional level. and finally come he can't fall off the floor. congress had no working-cla

what is congress up to? congress may be ready to call a truce in the budget wars. >> a bipartisan budget deal has been reached to avoid another government shutdown. [ laughter ] [laughter] >> jon: deal? deal? what type of witchcraft is this? deal? the elders have spoken of such wonders but i thought like the yelty it belonged to -- like the yeti it belonged to legend. if this be true, it be incredible. may it be? could it is? >> we have a deal. ♪ hallelujah >> jon: that's it just two? do we have any -- >> almost a hallelujah moment here. it's not the grand bargain many were hoping for. >> jon: i knew it. so the hallelujah for this moment is not of the handle variety or of the -- handel variety or the leonard cohen variety. the melan collie one -- mel -- then the donkey was beside himself. [ laughter ] anyway, my point is this: the budget compromise is that kind of melancholy hal -- hallelujah is good. >> it's a breath of fresh air. not used to using that c word compromise. >> jon: i country believe those (

in other words, i hate washington, i hate congress. therefore, likely to congress. it is the equivalent of someone applying to be a babysitter saying i have a masters in child psychology -- i hate children. but that has becomthe formula for getting elected and reelected. you spend less time in washington, not to know your colleagues, and take pride in that. you sleep on the offi couch and do not know anybody else. >> we do have a scholar just on the panel --a psychologist on the panel. how would you characterize that? >> increasing medication perhaps. it is a classic trope to measure congress by how much it passes and the size of the bills. by that measure, the obama legislation is the most successful in history because it can sink a ship if you put all the pages on it. if you are the opposition and believe the administration is running the country in the wrong way, for example, imposing obamare when youou see it is going to be a train wreck -- that is a success of the congress. that i is not a failure. >> there are people who voted for regulation of the financial i

congress is a curious animal. it has it's only buy ways and folk ways, and these deals get worked on behind the scenes. it's a mess. everyone is disgusted by it. if you're the president, and--here's another thing. you talk about a grand bargain. the president has suffered a great deal over the botched healthcare.com. part of his budget proposal reduce the cost of living increases social security, chain cpi. you don't hear him talking about that now. you don't see him pressing for that in the emerging budget deal. all the politics of the situation with pointing small if they can get anything done at all in. >> well, libby, is anything pointing small, is that even doing what you said you're going to do by when you said you were going to do it is a kind of victory. >> it is a bar. if they could get come up with something it would be an accomplishment. sequestration, more cuts kicking in in january, they talk about the budget, and they talk about the cuts that america has experienced that have already kicked in, and t

there were allowed to sign the agreement before congress voted with the guarantee that when congress finally got its post rubberstamp moment the terms were the executive branch rice the legislation. this is the only bill the executive branch rights. this is not the annual budget show where the president's budget is will barrel then likened to recycling. they're rate this bill and it goes into the hopper. it does not get community markup. does not committee amendments because right to the floor, and in congress but on the voting handcuffs. and a vote comes up the most of yes or no, no amendments from the maximum 20 hours of debate. and the final deal, the other key constitutional authority article 15, congress writes its own rules, congress loses control of when the vote happens. there's a guaranteed yes or no vote 90 days after the white house press the bill after signing the agreement, after picking the country all by themselves, congress must vote like are not. it is privileged on the floor. that system is now we got into nafta and wto. but a key fact about fast-track to quickly de

. >> coming up, how bad was congress this year, the congress labelled the do-nothing congress passed six times as many bills as this. >> and harmela aregawi is web. >> a new study find 20% of the world is living on over $1 a day. i'll tell you more coming up. join the conversation on twitter at aj "consider this" and on facebook and google+ pages. >> on capitol hill 2013 will go down in history as the least productive and the least popular congress ever. by the numbers the two legislative bodies in the 113t congress sent barack obama just 64 bills. in george w. bush's the lower number was 136, doubt the amount. the -- double the amount. and the 80th congress, the do-nothing congress, passed 390. we are joined by jason johnson, a professor of political science. how do you explain so few bills getting through? >> you have large numbers of members of congress who thing it's their job to stop the administration passing bills, rather than coming up with policy to pass. that's the root of it. for many observers, we operated under the assumption that the 2012 election would break the fever,

getting your thoughts on this congress on track to be the least productive congress. charles is up next on our line for democrats from raleigh, north carolina. i agree with the last caller. all this was to stop obama from being a good president. republicans are hypocritical. men outto throw these of office. we had the worst speaker of the house ever. they spent all this time trying to stop the health-care law which they are not going to stop. we need a jobs bill passed. we need to pass immigration and work on infrastructure. there are a lot of things that could be done. i didn't like the president we had before, but i did not hate him. i think we ever treated a president the way we treated this president. charles from the carolina bringing up house speaker john boehner -- he was pressed in that "washington post" story. paul kane of the washington post notes that the gop was most proud of putting the brake on tougher regulations on business and impeding efforts by president obama to push a more liberal agenda on the country. caller: 520 five representatives comes to $9

because every day that congress delays in its hearing, every day that congress delays, every day that congress delays in rectifying its wrong in this area leaves open the possibility that some bright-eyed palestinian villager living in poverty like the one who killed that medical clown will feel this is my chance for money, this is my chance. and by the way, i just want to add an addendum here. one of the most astonishing things i found in this research was that organizations who claim we're just here for democracy have no problem undermining the democracy in israel. i refer now and you saw it in the trailer to the new israel fund which is committed to democratic processes, which brags about the fact that it can convince or cajole knesset members not to vote in their own knesset, in their own legislature. interrupting elections, interrupting free vote is not an act of democracy. so i think we need to define what is wrong with the system, take a good, hard look at the system, admit that there's a new entity that never existed before. just as there was a king cole -- king coal and a kin

i've had it with these debates on the monday-friday congress. we all know that one-half of one-third of our government could still (bleep) this up. >> some conserve active republicans opposed to the deal. >> marco rubio saying he opposes this. >> yeah, that's the stuff the budget saga continues with a special appearance with reginald johnson as the guy he always plays in things like this. >> what contact exactly are we dealing with here, pal. >> getting a deal down. >> give me something i can use. >> didn't touch entitlements and ignored tax revenues. >> them it to me straight. >> they are kicking the can down the road. >> one question: do we get to win this time? >>, i think that's for rambo. >> don't call me on the action movie references. budget battle five it's over when i say it's over. >> yippee-kiaye mother (bleep). >> yippee-kiaye mother (bleep). >> chis this avo: this holiday tech the halls and ring in the savings with a free $50 online visa when you buy a phone get great deals on the best phones at radioshack guest tonight a scholar of

the only problem is congress. lawmakers in both houses on both sides of the aisle have been saying, forget this deal, we hate this deal, we want more sanctions on iran now. if they succeeded, if they passed new sanctions, the new agreement with iran would be off immediately. iran has been very clear on that. if new sanctions passed, the entire thing would be lost as soon as they passed. everybody who likes that there's this deal with iran, a potential diplomatic solution to this vexing problem, everybody's been saying, hey, congress, don't screw this up. secretary of state john kerry was trying to persuade congress not to mess this up. and it appears, maybe, and maybe just for now, that john kerry has won that argument. at least for now. or at least it appears that congress can't get its act together enough to pass the sanctions. after a year of record futility, congress's inability to do anything might have saved them their best efforts to screw up and undo a huge diplomatic achievement. so congratulations, they

in other words, i hate washington, i hate congress. therefore, elect me to congress. it is the equivalent of someone applying to be a babysitter by saying they have a masters in child security -- psychology but hey children. that has become the formula for getting elected. to spend less time in washington, not know your colleagues, and take pride in the fact you sleep on the office couch and do not know anyone else. >> how would you characterize that kind of behavior? >> increasing medication perhaps. a classic trope of liberalism to measure productivity in honduras by how in congress by-- how much it passes and the size of the bills. by that measure, obamacare is the most successful in history because it can sink a ship with all the pages. if you are the opposition and believe the administration is running the country in the wrong way, imposing obamacare when you can see it will be a train wreck and you oppose it, that is a success of the congress. that is not a failure. >> there are people who voted for regulation of the financial industry who then went about trying

congress has to matter again. that means we take seriously the role of budgeting and legislative but also holding accountable when we are being bypassed. the power of the purse is an issue that we talk about elections and that is an issue that has been discussed, but the other issue for me that is bothersome and you try to explain is i'm also asked you have to go up there and you just cut the funds off and shut everything down and it just becomes a blur. i believe he has stepped over review pvp hasn't and that's where we differ. we will agree on something's got agree or not it wasn't in the bounds of the constitution. and that is interesting for us to talk about for just a moment because it comes back to what do we do besides getting the acts together with congress, what can we do? standing is an issue so i want to ask you this question where do we go to begin that process of reclaiming our article one constitution will roll so that it is a three-legged stool and not right now one and a half. >> that is an excelle

in secret and the president is trying to rush it through congress so we know what we know from leaked texts and from trade meetings and reports like that but everything we've seen so far is very concerning you know i guess my next question is if obama you know if it is someone known it seems like there's still a vast majority of americans who do not even know about the if you're not on the street they would have no idea you're talking about i guess i'm just confused why is it that obama's trying to fast track it if it seems like it's not going to be a problem for him to pass it well if it actually had the light of day shined on it if we actually had hearings in congress and looked at the impact it would have on our you know our economy on wages on food safety and health care those kinds of things it wouldn't be able to be passed so the only way you can get this through and please the corporations that are writing it is if he rushes it through congress and fast track means that there be no amendments and very restricted debate on it so it's almost as a preemptive measure before it even

by congress to the zeck of tiff branch. as house -- executive branch. as house republicans helped make smarter spending decisions, the standards set by this agreement will be critically important. the budget agreement takes steps to reform mandatory spending that starts out slow but compounds over the years and results in a growing spending reduction year over year. it also moves us closer to a more responsible entitlement reform that leads to a balanced budget, paying down our debt economic ustainable futh. today is a new day. today is a day in the right direction and shows the common ground that this body and the senate can take as well and i thank all those involved and i ask for a vetio and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield 1 1/2 minutes to a terrific member of the ways and means committee, mr. neal. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recogn

does congress need to do more or less? >> do-nothing congress is bad for us, because we need legislation to reign in the n.s.a. it's been unsettling for the consumerin the u.s. and abroad and bad for american businesses in silicon valley. cisco reported a slump in sales abroad. analysts predict that the u.s. cloud computing industry will lose $22 billion to $180 billion in the next three years. the customers abroad are uncomfortable trusting the u.s. companies they now see as the intelligence agency in the u.s. i would like to see them reign in the legislation. >> so there is one example of where congress needs to act in order to get out bottlenecks in the economy. >> well, congress when they undo the bottleneck also inadvertently create new bottlenecks. it's not the bill that congress passes but what they pass. they could have 300 innocuous bill and you get a dodd-frank or obamacare and you have done harm to the economy. another thing at work here is not just congress that passes laws. regulatory agencies are passing laws

ellison: a congress-to-congress exchange and move forward. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. members are reminded not to make reference to occupants of the gallery. the chair will remind all persons in the gallery that they are here as guests of the house and any manifestation of approval or disapproval of proceedings is in violation of the rules of the house. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murphy, for five minutes. in a couple days, we will have a moment of silence and respect of the victims of sandy hook elementary. we need to take that moment to pause, reflect and pray. however, afterwards we cannot be silent on the need to get something done, the need to pass comprehensive and meaningful legislation and the need to help the mentally ill. has the change since newtown and our tragedies? sadly, it has done little to et those in need help. it has moved backward in getting the help done. and where there is no help, there is no hope. we have fewer psychiatric hospital beds, fewer outpatient tr

congress. of 232.a conference it's a failure. and one that absolutely must be addressed. i look out, i see susan barra and others that i've -- barbara and others that i've worked with, winning which got women involved across the country in politics. we're doing this now. and i'm heavily involved in project grow that the nrcc is in.lved it has a messaging component, reaching out to women, talking 37-year-old single mother of two who's trying to make it to the 15th to the 30th month. but the recruitment piece of it is fantastic. 50, i'll say,to key competitive races that we're looking at at the committee now, over half of them we have fielded a woman candidate. of them have primaries, but we're working with them and doing what i would call real recruitment. just mentoring of women that are going to enter the race but finding that teacher, that military, that owner, thatss mayor, that community leader who's willing to step up and be process here. so we're working very hard on this. myi said, along

i'm asking congress to renew the benefits for 2013. it's the least this congress can do. it must do this for america. please invest in america. that is where you will get results for the economy to grow. thank you very much. [applause] >> every member of congress should hear and heed what lisa and vera have said. we are here to try to amplify your strong and wise voices. we thank you. stan is an electrician, a journeyman wireman. on july 3 of this year, a project on which he had work for an extended -- an extended. finished. since then, he's been looking for work. he gets up at 4:00 every day even though he's not working. what he spends most of his time doing is trying to find work, especially with construction season in the cold weather coming up, his state benefits in maryland will expire in early january. when they expire, if we do not extend the federal benefits, he will be without income looking for his next job great we hope next time you get up that 4:00 a.m. it's because you are working. but we want to hear what you have to say today. >> thank you for letting me s

but this congress is not like other congresses. tomorrow the house will decide whether this plastic gun ban still is an easy call, even under pressure from parts of the gun lobby. good luck to us all. [ male announcer ] this duracell truck has some very special power. ♪ [ toys chattering ] it's filled with new duracell quantum batteries. [ toy meows ] [ dog whines ] [ toy meows ] these red batteries are so powerful... that this year they'll power all the hasbro toys donated to toys for tots. want to help power some smiles? duracell. trusted everywhere. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ [ male announcer ] that's handy. hall we do is go out to dinner.? that's it? i mean, he picks up the tab every time, which is great...what? he's using you. he probably has a citi thankyou card and gets 2x the points at restaurants. so he's just racking up points with me. some people... ugh! no, i've g

that should go through congress. when you change the rules and you do things like executive orders it breeds a cynicism. it breeds a cynicism on the part of taxpayers. if you are changing things all the time, why follow laws? >> it is not what our founders had in mind. there is none. our stock market is happy with divided government, is it not? >> no question. when politicians are playing around with laws and taxpayers should watch their wallets, you should also watch your stock market with fear. you have seen a major stock rally market and second run presidents get little done and the notion that somebody whosoever seeing such a failed legislation that will achieve a lot is not credible. >> this is a president who really likes to get things done. you can see what he did in the first two years and he might get frustrated and desperate and perhaps use these powers to an extent he hasn't yet. >> that's the reason we are seeing this now. in the second term we know president obama is not going to be able to get his next

harrison i want to go to you obviously congress has a role in all of this i mean do you think recent policies have been in response to sort of the gridlock we're seeing in washington or how would you say sort of congress is weighing in on all of this. i can speak to that honestly the one point i do i would like to make however is that we're not calling for a straight up listen or an ending of the i mean i think that would be ideal and ideal world is dominated by local and alternative currencies but i think that could cause some pretty big problems in this country if we were to proceed towards a straight out abolition what we're proposing would set up one hundred is proposing is for the federalists ation of the and we're looking at a process that we're trying to propose a new process into the national conversation about how to go about tackling this issue and bring it under congress is just the first step because we have more control over congress in spite of all the problems that congress has than we do of the private wall street banks and harrison what exactly are you hoping for pos

congress will have time to act. the senate armed services committee will be looking at the commission reports, and we will have an opportunity to look at this in entirety before it is implemented. and i truly want to thank him for speaking up for our military, because i know more than anyone of us on this floor that when he speaks for the military, he understands the consequences of not enacting legislation today. canmr. mccain: i thank the chairperson for her hard work, and i believe that most americans are a bit surprised that there is any agreement. and i believe that the chairperson would agree that this is a small step. but i think the chairperson should also deserve and be accorded great credit for tough negotiating, for a good agreement that i think will achieve many things but, most of all, prevention of the shutdown of the government again, which we should not and cannot inflict on the american people. and i would have -- and i'm sure the chairperson would have had different provisions in it if she had writ

i urge congress to do the same. the challenge here today is for congress to work together and support a bipartisan effort that our neighbors do not go without by extending this benefit in this time of great need for so many. thank you. >> madam leader? >> i want to thank our witnesses again. as a tribute to all of you, i am so pleased many members have come. some have to go back to their committee work, but to pay respect to you. we've been joined by congressman of puerto rico, ohio, minnesota, new york, california, alabama, california, new york. chris val the list goes on and on. while we are talking about a major statistic, 1.3 million people by the end of the month, every single one of those stories, their million stories out there are important to us. you are the personification of that. you are the personification of the great work ethic of america, and that's what we want to see upheld with this. i'm pleased to yield to our distinguished witness for comments he might wish to make. >> thank you for being here.

this congress is ineffective, unhappy and unproductive. it's possibly the worst congress ever. it has a to-do list that rarely changes because it rarely does anything. the senate passed immigration proposal this year, for example, but speaker boehner refused to bring to it the floor. house republicans revolted over the farm bill because it cut $2 billion in food assistance for poor americans, and that wasn't enough. the gop caucus then said it preferred nothing to something. and then there are the priorities that the leadership of both parties have refused to bring to the floor, ending offshore tax shelters for corporations, eliminating the loophole for wall street money managers or raising a minimum wage that has been falling in real dollars. and that last one isn't even politically hard. in fact, the last time the senate hiked the minimum wage it passed with count 'em up, 94 votes and was signed by president bush. well, joining us now to talk about this year's unfinished business is senator bernie sanders, and independent from vermont. welcome. >> thank you. >> let's start wi