thatw last week the effect west virginia was having. the pittsburgh federation of teachers devoted to strike last monday -- voted to strike last monday. , the school district had full did in giving them everything they wanted. we are started to see that effect already play out in pittsburgh. in neighboring states to was virginia, in kentucky, as well as in southwestern pennsylvania, there has been talk of striking in districts where the g governr jim justice owns money. the billionaire governor of was virginia is also one of the largest landowners and coal owners in the state. he owns something like $15 million taxes and six different states. there has been talks in counties in the neighboring states where he owes money come of striking a solidarity to once they sign. it looks like there's a lot of talk in oklahoma of striking sometime in early april. this is certainly inspiring a lot of action. it is particularly interesting because it is coming at the same time as the walkouts over the parkland massacre. we're getting to this period w

west virginia ranked 46th among the 50 u.s. states for average teacher pay last year according to the national education association. one teacheher explained the mote for the strike. >> it has been very hard because the teachers -- they want to be in school just as bad as the parents want the kids to be there. but this is been one not for many years. the teachers finally said enough is enough. amy: while the state's republican-controlled house of delegates and senate were able to reconcile differing bills regarding salary increases, lawmakers have not yet answered teachers' demands for a cap on spiraling healthcare costs. governor justice signed an executive order appointing a task force to address the issue. the committee will hold its first meeting next week. the strike in west virginia has also inspired teachers and other states. on tuesday, the oklahoma education association announced teachers would go on strike able 23rd if the state legislature does not approve pay increases in funding for educational needs. they are the

we'll tell you about allegations in west virginia. his hearing of the house energy and commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations is two hours and 25 minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> we go called to order the hearing today on the drug enforcement administration's role in combating the opioid epidemic. today the subcommittee on oversight and investigation convened the hearing on the dea's role in combating the opioid epidemic. this crisis is a top priorities the nation and certainly of this committee and subcommittee. a opioid related overdoses kill more than 42,000 people in 2016. that's an average of 115 deaths each day. an estimated 2.1 million people have an opioid use disorder pretense earliest hearing in 2012 subcommittee has been investigating various aspects of this epidemic. in may of 2017 the committee opened a bipartisan investigation into allegations of opioid dumping. the term is described in opiate shipped by wholesale drug distributed to pharmacies located in. [roll call] communi

what the governor of west virginia. three houses already passed it the senate has already passed that's our last hurdle and right now. we. are oh we haven't heard official word yet and i want to give some context for our international community who may not quite understand why it is that teachers have been striking for the past nine days i pulled up this here this is the a c.n.n. but it is the very best edition of this that we've seen this is from the bureau of labor statistics on the average annual wages for it teachers west virginia's teachers earned among the lowest pay in the nation forty eighth and that's according to the national education association a ranking of salaries average salary forty seven thousand while in west virginia while the national average is fifty nine thousand i know you work a part time job in addition to being a teacher what will this five percent raise mean for you. it could possibly mean that i won't have to work a second job i took that job because we were one of the lowest paid in the sta

virginia and -- >> i'm sorry, i'm just dealing with west virginia. it's the epicenter. you know that and i know that, and when it has been there for nearly ten years, it's been the highest level. and woe've not seen the resourcs come into west virginia. i appreciate very much that you put a tactical diversion squad or your predecessor did into clarksburg, but i've got to think a lot more attention needs to do with it. if this man can do this by longhand, put this information together, i think with your resources you could do a far better job and save a lot of lives and turn some families around. so i'm asking you, please, to look at more diversion into west virginia. some of the funds and resources that you can to help out on this situation. >> again, sir, we've been working on that and we're continuing to put more resources into that particular di-investigation vision. >> what are the optics on this? how am i going to be able to measure whether you're successful with what you're doing? because just last year in my county, we've already had a 50% inc

west virginia was created, west virginia seceded from virginia in 1863 during the civil war. it's realistic to be formed after seceding from the state. for our purposes the reason for the formation of west virginia is important to understand. the first thing is a state has the power to claim legal primacy over county governments. a state can claim to overrule what a county government sets. just imagine if you are a coal company and you set up shop in the county and the canvas is actually we're not interested in having coal development here. we declare coal development illegal. states can pass laws that says two counties, you can't do that. the state decides economic activity and what happens, not any local town and not any county. this has a parallel in federal law which i won't go into, but states, this is how states limit the number of the clients. this way a corporation can deal with the governor and the legislature and it doesn't have to do with all the people in the county because they don't matter. matter. they can't stop it. secondly, , it has the power to create a jud

we've got to put somebody on it and i am going to put west virginia state, marshal university and west virginia university working this and bringing us real ideas as to what we can do. i'll be able to tell them there is no way on that plan thet could work. or i'll be able to tell them, yes, that's the real deal.e the could work. or i'll be able to tell them, yes, that's the real deal.t th could work. or i'll be able to tell them, yes, that's the real deal.th tht could work. or i'll be able to tell them, yes, that's the real deal.is thet could work. or i'll be able to tell them, yes, that's the real deal.thist. or i'll be able to tell them, yes, that's the real deal.this could work. or i'll be able to tell them, yes, that's the real deal. now we can't possibly not talk about china. you talk about an 800-pound gorilla in the room -- not me. but china is a possibility beyond all of our possible dreams. it could really happen. and the reason it could probably happen is two things. and these are trump cards that we have and are true trump cards. president trump generally wants the trade imb

back to you. >> ron allen a lot of news coming there out of west virginia. thank you very much for that report. >>> breaking news, i want to bring in senator joe manchin out of west virginia. what's your reaction to the news that there is a deal? >> it's great news, it's something that needed to come. kids want to get back in the class room. the educators want to get back and the personnel want to serve them. this is the first i've seen in my life time. you've had all the educators and administrates in unison on this to invest in education. they've done that and i praise the governor and all of them for coming together. democrats and republicans working together to find the solution, it's good. >> senator as you're reacting to this, i want to note house speaker paul ryan in the capital is talking with reporters as well so forgive me if i interrupt you. what can you do, what is your responsibility to make sure something like this doesn't happen again? >> on the state left, the educator, governor, we sent them estimates and make sure they invest in education.

here's how one west virginia teacher put it. "you're telling me my deductible is going up, but i can do exercises to earn an amazon gift card. are you kidding me? [ bleep ] you." [ laughter ] damn. [ cheers and applause ] the last thing that teacher needs is a gun. he's already dropping bombs. there's a lot more going on here than just a teachers' strike. what we're seeing in west virginia is a microcosm of what's happening across the country. working class people are being left behind by an economy increasingly dominated by the elite few. and they're pissed off. even in a seemingly deep red state like west virginia. and it's not just teachers who are unhappy about everything from health care, to the economy, to the opioid crisis. as one teacher put it, there's a feeling that the whole state is ready for a strike. wow. imagine if entire states could go on strike. "what do we want?" "legalized weed." "when do we want it?" "when do we want what?" [ laughter and applause ] [ laughter ] so clearly, this is not just a local issue. wo

virginia. >> i'm sorry i'm just dealing with west virginia that is the epicenter. it has been there nearly ten years at the highest level and we have not seen resources come into west virginia and i appreciate it very much putting the diversions into clarksburg but i think a lot more attention needs to be put into that because of peak can do this longhand i thank you can do it with your resources into far better job to save a lot of lives so i am asking you to please look at more diversion of some funds and resources with this situation. >> yes or we are working on that and are continuing. >> so what are the optics? how can i measure if you are successful what you are doing? because last year in my county we artie had a 50% increase over dose death in west virginia. how do we measure this? will we see a drop next year? >> the concern is to see a shift from other illicit substances but the goal is to drive down the prescription rate and the diversion of the prescription pills. >> what are the optics? will i see a decline next year ? >> a hope we see declines across

you see it no place worse than west virginia. sohave the dea reorganized that they have had a new section of teams focused on kentucky, tennessee, west virginia. that is where some of the highest problems are printe. i think for of the six will go to rural areas. designated every united states attorney's office a specialist on opioid cases. they are supposed to coordinate our efforts. i know they will be identifying in rural areas some of these hotspots. it is remarkable to me how this addiction -- these opioids have impacted our rural areas. with some of the dinner you just from west virginia is shocking to me. also have the new data analytics program. some of what you saw in west virginia many years before never reached epidemic levels that it did. >> we recognize this does not have any geographic boundary. our national center to figure at where the risk is. it will also bring us back to the mail. it makes all areas equal. we all receive mail. working with the post office, the dea, all of that as well. thank you very much. i wa

, the west virginia teachers have won. they almost into their strike lasted but decided to continue in the legislature did not comply with their demands. about that strike in terms of women. >> so like very's parts of the country, 75% of the teachers in west virginia are women. this large number of women in the profession, the profession itself has had become gendered in many, many ways. for instance, a lot of the schools -- west virginia is one of the poorest states in the nation. so for a vast majority of children going to public school, the school hotmail is perhaps one of the only hot meals they receive during the day. so teachers have to be more than public educators. they have to make sure that the children are fed. in a derogatory way, this is seen as care work and women's work. so that is a sort of sexist interpretation of it. but the core strength of it lies in the fact that because it is vast majority women and because women play a very significant role bridging the gap between the workplace him of the home, and

the next question comes from princeton, west virginia. greg pocket, last week, the usda issued some guidance on opioids in rural america and i think your question has something to do with that as well. >> it certainly does. thank you so much. i would like to thank the administration, the panel, for allowing us to come and be with you today. i have a couple of prepared remarks to preclude my question. i am a commissioner in west virginia, i have been for three years and i have been active in primary prevention strategies through local community-based coalitions for the last 17 years. i would also like to say -- i would like to give you a quick snapshot of what it is like to live in rural america. we started this in 1998 with oxycontin, when it first came down. it was designated "hillbilly heroin." we saw this coming but it also has harmed to society as a whole. in the last 19 years, the social survey system we have seen, has become overloaded. employment rates have risen to record levels and i can tell you to 2012, the amount of opioids th

free trade hasn't worked well for west virginia. it really hasn't. we've lost thousands of jobs. >> reporter: the trump plan would impose tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the u.s., intended to make u.s. steel and aluminum providers more competitive. but unintended consequences worry, the owner of iowa-based des moines steel. >> it's going to hurt us in the long run. our supply and demand now is going to be hard because almost all our stainless steel is made in china and overseas. >> reporter: with days to go or maybe more, until the president says he will sign the tariff plan commerce secretary wilbur ross said other nations want a chance to influence the terms. >> a lot of countries have been talking with the president. they've been talking with me. they've been talking with others. and we'll see. the president makes the decisions. >> reporter: ross dismissed concerns that threats of trade retaliation against american-made goods would hurt consumers. >> retaliation isn't going to change the price of a can of beer. it isn't going to change t

breaki breaking news from west virginia. lawmakers reached a at the present timetive -- tentative agreement that will end the picket lines that kept kids out of class for two days. >> it is over. they say the strike is over and a huge celebration. >> reporter: i have with me two teach thae teachers that made this happen. the question is this really over? is this strike over? >> we have the house and the senate passing the bill, we believe, as we speak. we know that all of the namthin that our members wanted to see has happened. so far we have the task force. what this is an uprising. we believe they will work together to go back in. >> you have been here before and you had a deal last tuesday night. the governor -- >> well, we will have documents that everything has passed and the real winners are the students of west virginia. west virginia is now making an investment in education, an investment in their future. while teachers stood strong hay did it for their kids. now they are making that investment. >> when it kicks in a

. >>> a big victory tonight for teachers in west virginia. >> who made history? >> we made history. >> getting the pay raise they demanded. >>> and for millions of kids it's must-see tv drawing them in with stories that are nice. >>> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening to our viewers in the west. we begin tonight with break news. late word of another departure from the white house. this time it is gary cohn president trump's top economic adviser who is resigning. this game after the markets closed but it could have a big impact tomorrow. >>> cohn was noticeably absent from today's press conference where the president was asked to see if he wants to see more tax changes. >> they all want a piece of the white house. >> while there may be multiple factors contributing to cohn's departure, the president's new tariffs proved a tipping point. cohn was infur rating even drafting a letter of resignation after the president seemed to equate white supremacists with counter protesters during the charlottesville's clashes. >> where's gary? did a goo

west virginia had the highest rate of women smoking while pregnant, 25%. california had the lowest, about 1.5%. smoking during pregnancy is linked to low birth rates, birth defects, and premature births. >>> "usa today" reports the organization behind the nobel peace prize says president trump's nomination for the award was fake. the head of nobel institute says it appears the nomination they received had been falsified. they refused to reveal who was behind it. the unidentified american identified mr. trump's ideology of peace by submission. >>> and the "national geographic" reports a 7,000-year-old native burial site was discovered. they buried them at the site when sea levels rose. the remains stayed preserve. a diver found the site in 2016. it was announced yesterday. the discovery is being called unprecedent. >>> still ahead, the perks of being a celebrity. we'll peek inside this year's oscar swag bag and show you the extravagant gifts nominees will be receiving. >> announcer: this portion of the "cbs morning news" sponsored by vagisil, shameless abou

. >>> the big deal for teachers in west virginia. getting the pay raise they demanded. >>> and for kids, must-see tv, drawing them in with shows that are nice. >>> this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. >>> good evening, everyone, and thank you for being here. with another potentially crippling storm forming tonight, there is rising anxiety and some anger in parts of the northeast. they're still reeling from last week's nor'easter that left downed trees and widespread power outag outages. nearly a foot and a half of know is possible in some spots, from pennsylvania to maine, disrupting travel as airlines are prepared to cancel and reroute flights. stephanie gofx h stephanie goss being has the latest. >> reporter: another nor'easter is bearing toward the northeast. winter storm warnings from philadelphia to bangor, maine, and it's expected to be mostly snow. >> stay close to home. stay off the road. >> reporter: north of new york city tens of thousands still without power from the last storm. >> you're staring down the barrel of a

new jersey from west virginia? >> kenneth had been out with buddies near the campus of west virginia when he said he wanted to call eight night. he ordered an uber ride, which he doesn't quite recall doing and fell asleep >> i just woke up in the uber next to an older dude >> once he made it home, the price tag of the blurry trip became clear >> $1,635 and change >> he accidently ordered a more expensive uber x l >> it would have been $800, but came to 1600. >> reporter: john denver since country roads take me home, in kenneth's case, they took him home but won't be here flash flood warning >> i'm going back to west virginia, pick up my bags and >> reporter: alexandria hoff sewell new jersey. >>> youtube sensation, children spending hours watching other children play wind guth toys >> how parents should handle. . plus this >> i'm a survivor and i'm on season 36. >> what does it take to become a cast away on the long running cbs hit survivor? vittoria woodill asked how he finally made his dream come true >> kate tra

nbc's ron allen remains on duty for us in charleston, west virginia. ron, first of all, is the deal firm? and do we know how the state legislature plans to pay for these pay raises? >> well, let me, this is a huge day here, because this is not just pay raises for teachers at 5%. it's pay raises of 5% for every state employee. hundreds of thousands of people. so the pay raises potentially impact just about every family in the state of west virginia. if you extrapolate it out to retirees and current workers. that's how big a deal this is. $106 million. the governor says he can pay for it by cutting other programs. we'll see. yesterday, it was $60 million. today they came up with $106 million. the bottom line is the strike is over. these teachers are going back to work. there was a huge party a little while ago. you stayed behind. >> yes. >> you believe this is really it? >> we hope so. we sure hope so. i mean, this has been a long fight. we've been standing on our picket lines. we've been making trips to charleston through the sun and the rain and the co

in west virginia, senator capito joined a roundtable at a hunting ton chamber of commerce where she heard about increased optimism. in nevada, 90% of the business owners that senator heller spoke with say they plan to increase benefits, hire more workers, or invest in their operations. now, mr. president, it's a shame our democratic colleagues still haven't been able to extract themselves from their lockstep opposition to this historic law. if they had gotten their way, none of this good news would have happened. none of it. only one of the senators from pennsylvania voted for the law that is allowing that lynnwood manufacturer to expand, only one senator from ohio voted for the new law that is helping those workers in lima. only one senator from nevada voted to give small businesses the flexibility to invest more in their employees, and only one senator from west virginia and one senator from montana voted to take money out of washington's pocket and put it back in the pockets of the middle class. so every single senate democrat, every one of them, did all they could to block tax reform.

new jersey from west virginia? >> kenneth had been out with buddies near the campus of west virginia when he said he wanted to call eight night. he ordered an uber ride, which he doesn't quite recall doing and fell asleep >> i just woke up in the uber next to an older dude >> once he made it home, the price tag of the blurry trip became clear >> $1,635 and change >> he accidently ordered a more expensive uber x l >> it would have been $800, but came to 1600. >> reporter: john denver since country roads take me home, in kenneth's case, they took him home but won't be here flash flood warning >> i'm going back to west virginia, pick up my bags and >> reporter: alexandria hoff sewell new jersey. >>> youtube sensation, children spending hours watching other children play wind guth toys >> how parents should handle. . plus this >> i'm a survivor and i'm on season 36. >> what does it take to become a cast away on the long running cbs hit survivor? vittoria woodill asked how he finally made his dream come true >> kate tra

. >> west virginia among the states where the power is out. but schools will be closed monday for a different reason. the continuing teacher strike. tony dokoupil is following this. >> 55 united! >> reporter: one of the few statewide teacher strikes in american history will keep a quarter million students out of class for an eighth school day monday. after the west virginia senate, outraged educators by voting to reduce a 5% pay raise agreed to by both the governor and the house. awe off it is, a bait-and-switch. it is unacceptable. >> west virginia is hardly the only state where teachers are making far less than other college educated professionals. nationwide, the average earnings of workers with at least four years of college, are now over 50% higher than the average earnings of a teacher. that's because teacher pay is actually declining, relative to inflation. while income for all other college graduates has risen almost $6,500. teachers in oklahoma are using socialed me y to organize their own walkout. after legislators voted down a $5,00

wage this my friend is the energy of strike you see just over nine days ago west virginia's teachers and educators went on strike pressing the state legislature for higher wages and stronger funding for the state's failing public employee health care system and on tuesday this week their energy paid off with the state legislature and governor finally coming to an agreement announcing a five percent increase in teacher pay as kathy kugel writes in for jacob in magazine and less than two months the movement has grown from a couple hundred a group teachers and school service personnel demonstrating at the capitol to a full blown strike it is seemingly caught everyone from union leaders to state legislators to the rest of the country by surprise by surprise and by storm because while our elected officials in cable news pun in spite rant over whether or not to buy every teacher a shiny new glock educators around the country are instead calling for better classrooms better resources and higher wages you know little things that actually you know tend to work you know to make a child's life

good to see you. >> thank you, brooke. >>> west virginia, this is a key story. you have teacher who is are still walking the picket lines as the strike closes all public schools in the state for the eighth day. these teachers want a pay raise. they are demanding a 5% pay raise, nothing less. lawmakers are scrambling to see if there is enough money to fulfill the wish in the state budget. west virginia's teachers are all off the job and parents are looking for places to put their kids. a lot of striking teachers are bringing their own children out to protest with them at the state capitol in charleston. let's go to polo sandoval. he's been covering the teacher strike in west virginia. is there any sign of agreement? will they get the 5% raise? >> the short answer, brooke, is no. here's what it boils down to. these are the nuts and bolts of the legislative battle. you have the house here saying there is no room in the budget. they cannot do better than a 4% raise. opposite that argument you have the teachers and the backing of the house and governor jim justice wh

>>> coming up, teachers in west virginia are on strike for an eighth day. remember, when teachers are on strike, our children are not going to school. they are not being educated. you want to move up? education. that's how you're going to do it. the fact that the state legislature refused to meet their demands for higher pay and better benefits. >>> first, you know we are keeping track of gun violence in this country. according to the trace, there have been 9,353 incidents of gun violence in the united states this year. 411 of them took place just this weekend. last years' ad campaign was a success for choicehotels.com badda book. badda boom. this year, we're taking it up a notch. so in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, "wow, maybe i'll glow too if i book direct at choicehotels.com". who glows? just say, badda book. badda boom. nobody glows. he gets it. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he

free trade has not worked well for west virginia. it's not. we lost thousands of jobs. >> reporter: this imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the u.s. intended to make u.s. steel and aluminum providers more competitive, but unintended consequences worry the owner of iowa based des moines steel. >> i think it's going to hurt us in the long run. our supply and demand now is going to be hard because almost all our stainless steel is made in china and overseas. >> reporter: with days to go or more until the president says he will sign the tariff plan, today secretary commerce wilbur ross said other nationsas w c ahance to imflun tnfluence the terms. >> a lot of countries have been talking with the president. they've been talking with me. they've been talking with others. we'll see. the president makes the decisions. >> reporter: ross dismissed concerns that threats of trade retaliation against american-made goods hurts consumers. >> retaliation is not going to change the price of a can of beer or change the price of a car. it's just n

sticking to west virginia, school back in session today is west virginia teachers get the pay raise they demanded. estate lawmaker voting unanimously to grant a 5% raise and other state employees. kept more than a quarter million students out of class. we will talk about this on "fox and friends". the time is 9 minutes after the top of the hour. potential diplomatic breakthrough. kim jong un willing to talk about giving up his nukes but is at all smoke and mirrors. >> hopefully a peaceful beautiful path, we are prepared to go whichever path is necessary. heather: breaking down the critical step. >> if you don't know what it is like, you don't have to beat them and that is what teaches them. heather: the dad going viral for his tough love joins us live with a message to his critics. meet the walmart worker, a stunning national anthem performance of her own. ♪ gave proof through the night ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ heather: north korean dictator kim jong un shocking the world by saying he is open to the possibility of denuclearization if his regime stayed in power. donald trum

west virginia the teacher strike is entering its 7th day. every school there closed. more and more pressure building on both sides. >>> let's start back in washington with nbc's hahn nickels over at the white house. the president started his morning up and out. he's over in charolette getting ready for billy graham's funeral. he has been on defense about this tariff he made yesterday. you can see his plane right there as he gets ready to head out. hahn, the white house isn't backing down they're saying this is going to happen. >> it depends how you define it, pretty certain, those are the words sarah huckleby used. she said the president is pretty committed. she didn't expect the amounts to changism she had no reason to believe that john comb, the white house economic director would leaf. here's what the president's saying on twitter. he says when a country, usa is losing many billion dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good and easy to win. example, when we are down a hundred billion with a certain country they get cute

or take west virginia. as my friend, senator capito, recently noted, her state understands the problem all too well. one recent study suggested that west virginia has the third highest proportion of its population living in economically distressed communities. opportunity zones will make a difference to her state. of course so will the rest of tax reform. a few weeks back, senator capito reported that worldwide equipment in west sulfur springs plans to reinvest $8 billion into its operation, including more than a thousand employee bonuses, all thanks to tax reform. i imagine west virginians are quite glad that senator capito used her vote to make tax reform a reality. it's a shame their senior senator didn't follow suit. it's a shame he and every other democrat tried to block him from taking effect. fortunately, this president and this congress didn't let that stop us. we accomplished tax reform anyway because we're committed to fighting for all americans.

there you go. >>> classes in west virginia will remain dark for an eighth day today. thousands of teachers say they are not being given the raise that they were promised. in a saturday night vote in the state senate is only strengthening their resolve. nbc's ron allen has more on the fight that's keeping nearly 280,000 students at home. >> reporter: in a high school that will be empty come monday -- >> 19 people need to change their mind and do what's right. >> reporter: -- west virginia teachers plotted their next move. some 20,000 of them on strike for nearly two weeks. the state ranked 48th in teacher pay nationally, an average of $45,000. they walked out demanding a raise and release from soaring health care costs. >> i just watched my father's chemotherapy session. if i get cancer tomorrow, do you think i could afford chemo? >> reporter: days of angry protests and negotiations inside the state capital building. a deal for a 5% pay raise. agreed to by the delegates but blocked by the state senate. >> what will it take to get the teachers back in the classroom? >>

west virginia is among the states where the power sowt. but schools will be closed again monday for a different reason. the continuing teacher strike. tony dokoupil is following this. >> reporter: one of the few statewide teacher strikes in american history will keep a quarter million students out of class for 1/8 school day monday after the west virginia senate outraged educators by voting to reduce a five percent pay raise agreed to by both the governor and the house. >> it is a bait and switch and it's unacceptable. >> but west virginia is hardly the only state where teachers are making far less than other college educated professionals. nationwide, the average easternings of workers with at least four years of college are now over 50% higher than the average earnings of a teacher. that's because teacher pay is actually declining relative to inflation, while income for all other college graduates has risen almost 65-- 6500 since 1-9d 96. now teachers in oklahoma are using social media to organize their own walk out after legislators vet

they fought in west virginia. they saw the power of collective action in west virginia. they're going to see the power of collective action in oklahoma. and it's not simply about the teachers. it's about the kids. because if you don't pay people, they can't survive. this is what it's about, my friends. collective action. democrats have their backs. i've seen it in tennessee. when i was there. the moral bankruptcy of the republican leadership in tennessee. eight rural hospitals in tennessee have been shut down in the last two years. because of the ideological refusal of the republican leadership and people like congresswoman marsha blackburn, the nominee, in all likelihood, for the senate, who's going to lose to phil brettesen. their ideological aversion to obamacare. they refuse to expand medicaid. that's why those hospitals closed. and so that family suffering with opoid addiction. they don't know where to go. and as you know in rural america, these rural hospitals are not only the health care hub, they're the employment hub. and people have lost their jobs. that is mor

virginians like everyone takes from west virginia yeah they take our coal they take our resources and everyone's been taking no one's putting anything back in and that's what has that group of people very upset and what's really interesting. is. mentioned earlier could also wrote it was also the democratic party led by the majority governor joe manchin that enacted corporate tax cuts a decade ago that currently cost the state this demitted two hundred twenty million oh you're if you put that to twenty million in the issue of the state workers now which is what that strike was over a period of five percent payroll you could give every public employee a twelve percent raise that's incredible so these are things the of one group who fought teachers fought for a five percent raise and you literally sit back and say all this money you could have given everyone in the whole state was a public employee twelve percent revenue growth that away democrats didn't act collective bargaining there so it's not a right and left problem here it's a politician versus people problem. many good folks here

free trade wasn't worked well for west virginia. we've lost thousands of jobs. we're taking about fairness to the system. >> brennan: concerns about trickle down cost, price going up, you've dismissed that? >> that's wall street talking. that's all wall street talking. i know exactly. follow the money. that's what is talking here. the people in main street we got hurt. we've lost good jobs with benefits we can't compete. when you have china producing 50% of the world's steel, you have united states of america basically as consuming largest importer of steel, put the dots together, lindsey talked about. that connect the dots we've got to do something. but also she wouldn't punish our favorite trading nation, we have surpluses with them. there's not a negative trade war. >> brennan: i want to ask you because you sit on intelligence committee, three dozen white house officials have their security clearances downgraded this week. does it concern you how the white house is handling classified? >> the consideration, sitting on the intel committee, 15 of us. we captain

i was just in west virginia. i took a delegation from south central los angeles battling addiction in south central to west virginia to help the people who are battling addiction there and it was the most beautiful exchange i've ever seen. african-americans, white, latino, all that stuff goes out the window when you're dealing with these kind of funerals. i like what the president said about helping to hire people, giving people second chances. i like what he said about being tough on the pharmaceutical stuff. i really like the fact that the first lady gave a shoutout to lilly's place. >> in west virginia. >> these drug-addicted babies are being dealt with. i met with sheriffs, i met with pastors, nobody is saying what we really need is the death penalty for drug dealers. i don't know where he's getting that stuff. that is -- that is 180 degrees from what the people on the ground are saying. they're saying people need more help, more compassion, more education. sometimes they say they need more -- better bible st