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Obama Speaks On Overtime Pay Rules; White House: Search May Expand To Indian Ocean; Russian Military Drills On Ukraine Border

Aired March 13, 2014 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama speaking at the White House. More overtime pay he wants.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At my State of the Union, at the beginning of the year, I laid out an opportunity agenda to give more Americans a chance to succeed. It's got four parts. Number one, making sure we're creating more good jobs that pay good wages. Number two, making sure that we're training more Americans with the skills that are needed to fill those jobs. Number three, making sure every child in America gets a world class education. And number four, which is what I'm going to be focusing on today, making sure that our economy rewards the hard work of every American.

Now, making work pay means making sure women earn equal pay for equal work. It means giving women the chance to have a baby without sacrificing jobs or a day off to care for a sick child or parent without worrying about making ends meet. Making sure every American has access to quality affordable health care that is there when you need it. If there is somebody out there that doesn't have health insurance, go on healthcare.gov before March 31st. That's a priority.

And it means wages and paychecks that help to support a family. Profitable corporations like Costco see paying higher wages as a way to boost productivity. I asked business owners to do what they can to give their employee a raise. Some of you saw yesterday at the Gap and fortunately Malia and Sasha liked the sweaters I bought. They decided to give a raise to 64,000 employees across the country.

I called on Congress to give America raise by raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. This year of action, while Congress decides what it's going to do whether it's going to do anything about this issue and I hope that it does and I know Democrats are pushing hard to get the minimum wage legislation passed, I'm going to do what I can on my own to raise wages for more hardworking Americans.

A few weeks ago I signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. Today, I will use my pen to give more Americans the chance to earn the overtime pay that they deserve. Overtime is a pretty simple idea. If you have to work more, you should get paid more. If you want to know why it's important, ask some of the folks here who are behind me.

Nancy Minor works at an oil refinery in Pennsylvania. Nancy, raise your hand. There you go. Give Nancy a big round of applause. So for the last 16 years, Nancy has been a single mom, raising and educating four kids on her own. That is not easy as you might imagine. She has been able to do it though thanks in part to her overtime pay.

For more than 75 years, the 40-hour workweek and the overtime that comes with it have helped countless workers like Nancy get ahead. It means that when she is asked to make sacrifices on behalf of her company which she is happy to do, they are also looking out for her and recognizing that that puts a strain on her family and having to get a baby-sitter and all kinds of things and adjustments she has to make. It's just fair. It's just the right thing to do.

Unfortunately today millions are not getting the extra pay they deserve. That's because an exception that was originally meant for high paid white collar employees now covers workers earning as little as $23,660 a year. So if you are making $23,000, you know, typically you are not high in management, right? If your salary is even $1 above the current threshold, you may not be guaranteed overtime.

It doesn't matter if what you do is mostly physical work like stocking shelves. It doesn't matter if you are working 50 or 60 or 70 hours a week. Your employer doesn't have to pay you a single extra dime. I think that's wrong. It doesn't make sense that in some cases this rule actually makes it possible for salaried workers to be paid less than the minimum wage.

It's not right when business owners who threat their employees fairly can be undercut by competitors who aren't treating their employees right. If you are working hard, you are barely making ends meet, you should be paid overtime, period, because working Americans have struggled through stagnant wages for too long. Every day I get letters from folks who just feel like they are treading water.

No matter how hard they are working. They are putting in long hours. They are working harder and harder just to get by. But it's always at the end of the month, real tight. Workers like the ones here with me today, they want to work hard. They don't expect a free lunch. They don't expect to be fabulously wealthy. They want a chance to get ahead.

So today I'm taking action to help give more workers that chance. I'm directing Tom Perez, my secretary of labor to restore the common sense principal behind overtime. If you go above and beyond to help your employer and your economy succeed, then you should share a little bit in that success.

This is going to make a real difference in the lives of millions of Americans like managers in fast food and retail and office workers and cargo inspectors and we are going to do this the right way. We are going to consult with both workers and businesses as we update our overtime rules. We are going to work to simplify the system so it's easier for employers and employees alike.

With any kind of change like this, not everybody is going to be happy. Americans have spent too long working more and getting less in return. Wherever and whenever I can make sure that our economy rewards hard work and responsibility that make sure it is treating fairly the workers who are out there building this economy every day. That's what I'm going to do.

What every American wants is a paycheck that lets them support their families and experience a little bit of economic security, pass down some hope and optimism to their kids. That's what we are going to be fighting for and what I will be fighting for as long as I'm president of the United States. With that I will sign this memo and I want to thank everybody for being here and especially the folks standing behind me. There you go.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: There you see President Obama live at the White House pushing for changes in the rules on overtime pay. You saw him signing the memorandum here. This is what he is calling his year of action where he is using his power of the pen.

At the White House now our correspondent Jim Acosta. Jim, part of the year of action and part of the power of the pen.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Don. He has been talking about this as long as his economic agenda is stymied on Capitol Hill. He would like to see a minimum wage increase and you know, he's talked about other ideas for getting the economy going. He says he is going to be using his pen. He is going to be using his phone and you saw him use several pens there to sign that executive action to authorize the Labor Department to revamp overtime rules.

They think about 10 million Americans could be affected by this and we are going to see more of this as the days head forward here. You know, this president sort of believes that he is not really going to whole lot done up on Capitol Hill from a legislative standpoint so to show the American people he can still get things done. He will do more of these events like this ones you saw today -- Don.

LEMON: Jim, you were in the White House briefing, when Jim Carney, the press secretary talked about the new information, the search in the Indian Ocean and the possible opening of the search in the Indian Ocean, what was his response and talk to us about being in the briefing room.

ACOSTA: Interesting that he talked about that, Don. He said and I just want to quote from what he said during the briefing, it's my understanding that based on some new information that is not necessarily conclusive, but new information in additional search area may be opened up in the Indian Ocean.

I went back to Jay Carney later on in the briefing and asked him what do you mean by it may be opened up? Is it going to be opened up or not? He just didn't have more information than that. But he did say that this action is being taken with new information.

Now the White House has been pretty cautious about this all week, Don. They've been saying that they don't have enough information to say whether or not this was terrorism and what might have led to this plane disappearing. But they've also made it very clear that the Malaysians are taking the lead in this investigation.

That they are contributing some help from the U.S. government, the NTSB, FBI teams heading over and so on. But at this point, they just don't have any new information to figure out what happened. It's as much a mystery to this White House as it is to everybody else, Don. The U.S. government does apparently have new information and that might be why we are seeing this area potentially opened up in the Indian Ocean -- Don.

LEMON: Jim Acosta at the White House. Jim, thank you very much. We are going to follow-up on what James Carney said in the White House press briefing.

Billy Vincent who is a former FAA security director will join us next and give us his take on this new information. You may be surprised at what he has to say.

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LEMON: We are back now with breaking news in the mystery surrounding Flight 370. We just got new information from the White House press briefing saying a new search area may be opened up in the Indian Ocean and also that they are partnering with other countries to try to figure out where this investigation should go next.

I want to bring in now Billie Vincent. He is a former FAA security director. As I understand, Mr. Vincent, from my producers, you believe that many people who are involved in this search they have it all wrong?

BILLIE VINCENT, FORMER FAA SECURITY DIRECTOR (via telephone): Well, no. There are probabilities and possibilities. One, the U.S. government may know more than that has been revealed, for instance, in the "Wall Street Journal" and they may know the direction of that flight. But what I'm saying is that I find it improbable that the airplane crashed. I find it improbable that the airplane flew for upwards of four hours and then crashed into the ocean.

That just doesn't make sense, which brings us around to the point that the possibility and perhaps even the probability is that the airplane was hijacked and commandeered, but then you have to ask yourself to what purpose? Was there something valuable in the cargo hold of the airplane? I don't recall seeing anything published on what was in the cargo hold.

Secondly, one has to then consider if it were commandeered and the purpose was whatever. The hijackers have a problem of where to land and then where to hide a 777 or control the passengers and the environment. Wherever they land. It's hard to find a specific area going west in the Indian Ocean where that's probable.

LEMON: Where should they be looking then, Mr. Vincent? Where do you think they should be looking?

VINCENT: Well, again, if they don't know the direction with certainty they look east also into the Southern Philippines where you have an interaction, where you control of the environment. Once you took the airplane and then you can get the airplane and the people provided you can control the environment because once it sets down and if you do control the environment, it's very difficult to attack it and rescue the people. You can demand and you rent them.

LEMON: Billie Vincent, former FAA security director, stand by. Thank you very much. We are going to have much more on this breaking news.

Straight ahead, the White House said the search area for the missing Malaysia Airliner could extend to the Indian Ocean. And up next, the evolution of all the theories into the plane's disappearance.

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LEMON: We are back with our continuing coverage of Flight 370, the mystery of Flight 370. I want to bring in CNN's Tom Foreman now with a visual look at the desperate search efforts. What do you have for us, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Desperate that puts the pin on the board, doesn't it? Take a look at the map now of all what people are talking about. Amid all these competing theories about what happened here. This is the map you would have if you were basing it on what the "Wall Street Journal" said. If you believe what they said. Everywhere around me. All of this from India way over to Australia and beyond. This is what the search area would be. This is much, much bigger than the United States. This is roughly around a million square miles.

I will tell you, Don, this is unsearchable. It is simply too big to cover that much ground. That's why investigators have to keep coming back to the basic question. Let's narrow the map down now and talk again about where the plane took off, where it traveled, where it left land and went to water and where it disappeared.

Because you and I both know that since this thing started, this is about all we really know. Yet look what is happening. All these reports have trickled in from people saying I think I saw something or maybe I heard something or maybe I saw something in the water or maybe there was a radar blip somewhere. The search areas which initially were right over here have expanded and they spread out across land and into other parts of water.

Now we are talking about the Indian Ocean. That is a vast area out there, Don. Every time they do that it takes these resources, the 40 some ships they have out, the 40 some airplanes and the dozen countries involved. The satellites flying overhead and it spreads them out thinner, saying let's look somewhere else.

Don, that's one of the real problems here. These resources are getting spread wider and wider and wider by the day and not tighter and tighter as you would expect.

LEMON: Yes, and as I say, searching needles in the haystack. Thank you very much, Tom Foreman. Appreciate that. We have a lot more on the breaking news straight ahead including new developments with Russian troops taking part in the military exercises near the Ukraine border.

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LEMON: The breaking news here on CNN is that we are getting word now that Russia has started military drills involving thousands of troops near the border of Ukraine. I want to go straight to our Phil Black who is in Moscow. What's going on here, Phil?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's what we are being told by the Russian Ministry of Defense is that this drill, these drills will involve some 8,500 soldiers, mostly the focus here appears to be on artillery units. They are talking practicing with various multiple rocket launchers, (inaudible) motorized artillery, anti-tank cannons. They are going to be drilling day and night. They are talking about conducting as many as 1,000 live fire missions.

This is all taking place in what's known as Russia's southern military district. This is all in the ballpark of Ukraine. It follows what had been massive military exercises by Russia involving 150,000 soldiers and a lot of hardware as well right up against that Ukrainian border. That in itself was taken as a response to the change of politics and the change of government.

This latest exercises are taking place just as the region of Crimea is getting ready to vote on whether or not it should join the Russian federation. We know that that is a move that is significantly criticized and condemned by the international community, but Russia insists they have the right to do it. They are doing this as they come under great international pressure for their actions in that Crimean region.

LEMON: Phil Black, a show of force to what end here? Why?

BLACK: Well, as I said, the international community is talking about sanctions against Russia because they believe that Russia has occupied that Crimean region and officially Russia still denies that there are Russian soldiers in Crimea just as that region is getting ready to hold this referendum.

But the president, Vladimir Putin, has always insisted that he has the right to move his military into the east of Ukraine if he believes that ethnic Russians are still under threat there from what he says a nationalist in other parts of Ukraine. We know that the United States doesn't buy that excuse that Russia has been giving for this military build up.

But you're right. It is clearly another show of force. The timing deeply suspicious as Crimea is getting ready for this referendum as the world and the west in particular is saying that this referendum is illegal under international law -- Don.

LEMON: Phil Black, thank you very much. Much more on our breaking news now. Coming up.

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