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Lou Dobbs Tonight
War on the Middle Class
Aired December 14, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, "War On The Middle Class".
Here now from Tampa, Florida, Lou Dobbs.
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LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
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DOBBS: Thank you very much.
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DOBBS: Thank you.
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DOBBS: It's good to be with you.
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DOBBS: Thank you very much. It's great to be with you. Thank you for that wonderful reception. We appreciate it.
And among the things that we are going to do here tonight is continue to examine, as we have been doing for some time now across the country, the issues, the frustrations, the challenges that are facing this country's middle class.
We're coming to you tonight from Tampa, Florida, as we continue our town hall meeting juggernaut across the nation. Here tonight we are going to introduce you to some of the leading Florida lawmakers who are trying to help middle class families survive and to repel, if you will, the assault on their standard of living and their quality of life. We'll also talk with some distinguished authorities on issues such as health care and education, people who have some solutions and who are in their day-to-day lives making changes and making a difference for hard-pressed American-working families.
But we begin tonight with a look at the rising financial costs that are burdening many of our middle class families and particular here in Florida. Unemployment in the state of Florida is actually lower than the national average, but working men and women are still struggling to make ends meet. Christine Romans reports.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The boom state of Florida.
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ROMANS: A boom, but not for everyone. The houses have been built, but it's hard to unload them. High property taxes are hurting resale values. High property taxes a factor in some of Florida's nearly 30,000 foreclosures last year, taxes soaring and so is the cost of homeowners insurance. A year after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, residents face double digit premium increases. Here in Tampa, the jobless rate, a low three percent, plenty of job creation in low wage jobs. Per capita personal income just shy of $32,000, less than the national average and like elsewhere in the country, Floridians facing higher costs for energy and health care.
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DOBBS: We've been joined now by three leading Florida lawmakers. Gentlemen, welcome. All three members of the Florida Senate, we appreciate your being here.
Senator Mike Fasano -- Senator Fasano, thank you for being with us. He has a new plan to tackle a critical issue in this state and that's Florida's home insurance crisis. Not many states have to worry about that particular challenge, but certainly critical to the well being of everyone in this state.
And Senator Mike Haridopolos -- he's considering new proposals to deal with Florida's soaring property taxes. Property taxes are a problem? I can't imagine.
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DOBBS: And Senator Steven Geller is the Democratic minority leader of the Florida State Senate. Good to have you with us. We are going to ask our members of the audience to come to us and -- with some questions. I know you gentlemen are going to be thrilled to hear from these questions. Where should we start? Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It seems like that no matter what we do...
DOBBS: I'm sorry, sir. Could you identify yourself...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. I'm John Murray (ph). I'm a retired teacher from Lakeland, Florida.
DOBBS: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems that no matter what we do and how much we say, when we look at the horizon, there's always something coming down to us. Right now we in Florida are really being hit by rising insurance rates, by property taxes that seem to escalate every time we turn around. You don't have to be Alexander Graham Bell to know when the telephone is ringing. Can somebody do something to protect us from the insurance companies and escalating property taxes?
DOBBS: Senator Fasano, it sounds like right up your alley.
MIKE FASANO (R), FLORIDA STATE SENATE: Well you know Lou, early on when you spoke you said we had the lowest unemployment rate here in the state of Florida. But the middle class is being hit and hit hard because of the insurance premiums on their homes. We need to do something about it. We have seniors and the working families who are working hard in the state of Florida watching that their premiums are going up.
DOBBS: Right.
FASANO: The insurance companies are refusing to write them any longer...
DOBBS: And you know what we haven't said. We haven't said the magic word, hurricanes.
FASANO: Well, that's true too. But we haven't had a hurricane in the state of Florida for the last year and a half. But yet we continue to see premiums rise.
DOBBS: Where do we knock on wood here...
FASANO: Well we can knock on wood, but we also should be knocking at the doors of the insurance companies because they are the ones that are refusing to write policies. They've taken money from people throughout the state for 20, 30 years, and now they don't want to write policies in the risky areas. And because of that...
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FASANO: ... because of that we've had to create a state-run insurance pool that really has become a mess or a catastrophe...
DOBBS: And the name of that pool?
FASANO: ... at the cost of the taxpayers. And that's the name of Citizens Insurance.
DOBBS: And Senator Geller, your reaction?
STEVEN GELLER, (D), FLORIDA STATE SENATE: (inaudible) for retired teacher, I've been in the legislature for 18 years. The first 17 years I was here, I kept saying that education was the biggest issue facing the state of Florida and it could fix a host of problems. I'm not saying that any longer. Today the combination of rising property insurance rates and rising taxes are making it unaffordable for people to live in the state of Florida any longer. We can muddle by another year or two with an inadequate education system. We can't survive another year or two of this system. DOBBS: Oh, Senator, you and I are going to argue about that one.
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DOBBS: But the great thing is, is -- I mean the thing I love to hear from legislators, so I'm going to give us all another shot at this. We have the capacity in this country as Americans. This is a can do country. I shutter when I get the impression that our lawmakers at the state, federal, local level think we can only do one thing at a time. This country is capable of dealing with all of those issues because every one of them in my opinion, Senator, is absolutely critical for the quality of life and the standard of living and the American dream for this middle class, just 250 million Americans.
GELLER: I agree with you. Lou, I agree with you. And again, as I said, I hope we are not disagreeing. Because for 17 years I've been saying...
DOBBS: Right.
GELLER: ... education is the biggest issue...
DOBBS: I'm with you.
GELLER: But I'm telling you, every single week, probably every day I get letters from constituents tell me that they are moving to other states because they can't afford to live here.
DOBBS: Right. Are you guys going to get this fixed?
GELLER: And by the way, don't let anybody tell you there's nothing we can do because we can.
DOBBS: That's what I want to hear, Senator.
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DOBBS: Yes, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) and my question is in regards to retirees and we've talked about middle class retirees. How are they ever going to move forward (inaudible)? They only have a few thousand dollars (inaudible).
DOBBS: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible)
DOBBS: The question is how can retirees, middle class retirees afford to live in Florida? This is the Mecca for retirement -- Senator?
MIKE HARIDOPOLOS (R), FLORIDA STATE SENATE: Well, I think that's a great question. It's a fair question, affordable housing in general. For the first time in Florida history, people can afford their mortgage payment, but they can't afford the taxes and insurance. And it's time we did something about it. The truth of the matter is the government does not have a revenue problem.
They have a spending problem. And one of the goals that I'm going to talk about tonight is the idea of limit government spending. It should not grow faster than family income. That's something we should put in Florida Constitution because that's the American way. The can do spirit that Lou talked about is when you have the resources to take care of your own problems and make sure the government does its job and they get out of your way and it creates opportunities for you.
DOBBS: All right. Are you guys going to get that done in the next session?
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HARIDOPOLOS: Absolutely. We have in the Florida Senate, like no other, we have a bipartisan spirit. We know that the electors spoke to us loud and clear in November that we have to work together. Petty politics are days of the past. We need to move forward.
DOBBS: Tell me the truth. Tell all of us the truth. Did you guys get a little, kind of a shock, a little, alarm bell go off on November 7?
HARIDOPOLOS: Lou, what we got was a message, loud and clear message. And we are going to take that to Tallahassee...
DOBBS: Just a second, I want to compliment everybody in the room. Good work, guys. Thank you very much.
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DOBBS: We are going to be right back. We are going to hear much more from our audience and from these three leading Florida lawmakers.
Up next, more from our state senators, Mike Haridopolos, we thank you for being here, Mike Fasano, and Steven Geller. Thank you very much, gentlemen. We're also going to be talking about ways in which middle class Americans can survive what is a national education and health care crisis. And when we say survive, we mean fix it, we mean change it, we mean prevail. And we mean win this war against our middle class. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Welcome back. We are in Tampa, Florida tonight for this town hall meeting. We are in the Tallion Club (ph). It's a special town meeting, of course, as we continue our series of special reports on the war on this country's middle class. We've been talking with some of Tampa's elected officials, some of the elected officials from Tampa, and we want to turn as always to our audience. And I know that these three terrific lawmakers are excited to hear the questions. Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, I'm Jim Pease (ph). Representative Fasano, many of my friends believe that the government can't really control the insurance companies and get them to lower the rates. Do you really honestly think that the state legislature and the state of Florida can make the insurance company lower their rates?
FASANO: Well, I'll tell you, I think what we ought to do is make sure the insurance companies do what they promise the people of the state of Florida and that is to insure them. We need to stop the cherry picking in this state. We allow insurance companies to come into the states and choose where they want to write insurance policies and where they don't, and then the taxpayers and the state government have to pick up the rest.
We need to tell them if they are going to come to Florida and write certain insurance, if they offer homeowner's insurance to other parts of the country, they need to do that here, or we don't want any of their business at all, because the middle class is being hurt by the insurance companies who are refusing to write policy -- policies and demanding high premiums. We need to say write all of your lines of insurance or no lines at all.
DOBBS: Do you like the sound of that?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm afraid some of the insurance companies have been given that ultimatum (inaudible)...
DOBBS: All right.
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DOBBS: Let me ask you this, Senator, because I think it's a great question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible)
FASANO: Well, in my opinion they won't bail because they are making millions of dollars here in the state of Florida on the backs of automobile owners.
DOBBS: Right.
FASANO: When they sell health policies...
DOBBS: Senator...
FASANO: ... life policies and annuities, they are making record profits. Look at their bottom line nationally. One other thing though we need to do, Lou, is tell the state of Florida to the insurance companies that you're -- when you go before the Office of Insurance Regulation, you are going to show your total bottom line. Not how much you lose...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh...
FASANO: ... and make here in the state of Florida and that's what they've done. They've separated their companies here in the state of Florida so they can say they are losing money when the big companies, the national companies are making record profits...
DOBBS: And you've got to...
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DOBBS: Senator Geller?
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DOBBS: I like a senator who gets up on his toes and says this is the way it's going to be. That's the way to do it.
GELLER: I tend to disagree with Senator Fasano on the first part of his answering. I agree with the gentleman. It's a great campaign slogan to say well, if you are going to write one, you've got to write all. But in fact they do tend to agree that what would happen on that is it could create a crisis in the other lines of insurance...
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GELLER: ... the second part...
DOBBS: Sure.
GELLER: ... of what he was saying, he and I in a lot of areas of insurance we're in agreement. On the second part, let me tell you, we are trying to fix this and we can't even get accurate numbers. I've tried to find out what the one in a 100-year probable maximum loss is for a hurricane. I've gotten numbers that range anywhere from...
DOBBS: So now you've got to be an actuary as well...
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GELLER: Well I'm telling you, I've contacted the Office of Insurance Regulation. The Senate insurance...
DOBBS: Can I help you out?
GELLER: None of us can get accurate data from these people. And we need -- I think and Senator (inaudible) I think agree...
DOBBS: Yes.
GELLER: ... we need to either start issuing subpoenas or bring them in under oath to get the accurate data...
DOBBS: There you go.
(APPLAUSE) DOBBS: Senator Fasano is a Republican. Senator Geller, the Democratic minority leader in the legislature, I've just -- I got to say, you know there are Republicans in state legislatures all over this country watching right now, saying my God. A Republican legislator who actually thinks there's a role for government in a free enterprise democracy. They are going to be shocked. You actually want to write rules and enforce laws and regulations?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I want to do...
DOBBS: That's pretty exciting, isn't it, Senator Geller?
GELLER: Lou, last year on the bill, and by the way, in our special session, half of what we are going to have to do is undo last year's insurance bills. All 14 Democrats in the Senate, every House member voted against it. Most of the Republicans voted for it.
DOBBS: All right.
GELLER: Senator Fasano is one of the Republicans that voted against the bill with the Democrats...
DOBBS: I love to see bipartisanship...
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DOBBS: That's good stuff. Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Lou, and welcome to Tampa.
DOBBS: Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Brian Spalding (ph). My sister is a schoolteacher. My brother-in-law is a fireman. My wife is a registered nurse at Tampa General Hospital. Right now in our community, educated middle class Americans such as entry level firemen, policemen, teachers, and nurses are finding it nearly impossible to afford the most basic of homes. Have you seen anything that is working in other parts of the country that we should be doing here in Tampa to either create higher wages or to solve the problem of affordable housing for those that selflessly serve our community?
DOBBS: It's a great question. And you Senators, I know are wrestling with that issue. Not just in Tampa, St. Petersburg, but throughout this state. Because we are watching property taxes are rising. Home values are falling. Senator Haridopolos.
HARIDOPOLOS: Brian, let me answer the question this way. We have a solution. The solution is to slow down government spending. To give you an idea, Lou, since 2000, government spending on the county level has increased 80 percent. Personal income has only gone up 39 percent. This is why we want to tie spending with personal income. Again, the principle being that government spending should not grow faster than family income, Brian, because if you don't slow down that train...
DOBBS: Right.
HARIDOPOLOS: ... literally more is going to come out of your pocket. And you won't have the resources to fend for yourself with health care, education needs let alone affordable housing. That's the kind of encouragement we need to have and at the end of the day when we work together as bipartisanship in the Senate and the House and with our governor, the final (inaudible) with you the voter. There's going to be a constitutional amendment in which we the people will come together to say this is a good idea or a bad idea. Because the ultimate veto power should not be with politicians.
DOBBS: Right.
HARIDOPOLOS: They should be with the people.
DOBBS: Senator Geller, I've got to take a quick break, if I may. We're going to come back to you. I know you've got something to say here. And this broadcast is nothing if not fair and balanced...
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DOBBS: We'll be right back. We'll be back with our town hall meeting. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Tampa has been one of this country's most important port cities for more than a hundred years. It is also a port that the Bush administration agreed to turn over to the government-owned Dubai firm, Dubai Ports World. Does anybody here notice that at any time? That's all behind us now. That's all worked out.
AIG buying those 20 port facilities that would have gone to Dubai Ports World if it weren't for the action of the Congress and the involvement of citizens all over the country who protested, but there are still critically important issues and concerns related to the port on at least two fronts. Bill Tucker reports.
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BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The port city of Tampa, Florida, now the 15th largest in the nation handling approximately 50 million tons of cargo a year. Nearly half of all seaborne commerce that passes through the state makes the port of Tampa a potential terrorist target. The port community employs some 100,000 workers. Eight billion dollars worth of economic activity passes through the port annually.
And while nearly $7 million of goods were exported to the Tampa port last year, nearly 12 million were imported. The signing of NAFTA and CAFTA had promised new opportunities for workers in Tampa and around the country. But many are still waiting for those opportunities.
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DOBBS: Well joining us now, Congressman Jim Davis. He is a native of Tampa, also a member of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees both interstate and foreign trade. Jim Davis also ran for governor against Florida's now Governor-elect Charlie Christ. And it's good to have you with us. We appreciate your being here. We are not going to keep you in suspense. We're going to turn to the audience right away. Who has a question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, I'm Mike Scott (ph).
DOBBS: Mike, would you mind standing up so folks can admire you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, I'm Mike Scott (ph). Ever since our government started entering into trade agreements like NAFTA, we've been told that these trade agreements would create good jobs in America. We have thousands of truck drivers working out of ports in Florida hauling goods that are shipped into this country from China and around the world. These jobs are -- I got to tell you, these jobs are not some of the best jobs in the world. They are directly linked to trade. They pay less than $7 an hour. They are unsafe. There's no health care. There's no pension...
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm talking about truck drivers. When the drivers tried to form a union, they were sued by the government. So what I want to know...
DOBBS: Whose government?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were sued in Miami Dade by Miami Dade government.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... litigation against them. And so what I would like to know is what are we doing to ensure -- what's our government doing to ensure that these new jobs that are being created are going to be good, middle-class American jobs?
DOBBS: That's a wonderful question. And by the way, literally, tens of millions of Americans all over the country are asking very similar questions. Congressman, fire away.
REP. JIM DAVIS (D), FLORIDA: Well we are in a unique opportunity to benefit from trade, Lou, if we get the details right. And Mike is a leader in Miami in the state of Florida with the Teamsters. But the question is identifying the kinds of goods and services that countries to the south of us need and how we provide those. It is critical to have a president that enforces labor and environmental protections to have a level playing field. We have not had that with President Bush. Consequently as you know...
DOBBS: We didn't have it with President Clinton, either. Let's keep it... (CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: ... keep the record straight.
DAVIS: No, I understand that. But this is about where we go the next two years and where we go throughout the next presidential election.
DOBBS: Right.
DAVIS: And President Clinton did not build the foundation either. But now it needs to be built among Democrats and Republicans. And that's to have trade agreement that have protections in terms of environmental labor standards and to have a president that enforces that. And that's how you make sure that trade is a two-way street where we can truly benefit. Here in Florida, if we have those kinds of trade agreements, we will benefit.
DOBBS: Well let me, if I may, follow up on your question. And that is, he's talking about folks making $7, less than $7 an hour, you said. I know that that still would be the Florida minimum wage, which is significantly higher than the $5.15 minimum wage -- the federal minimum wage. But what in the world is the attitude that people can't join a union if they want to, if they want to create a union and be represented? What's the deal there?
DAVIS: Right. There should not be a hostile attitude towards organized labor in this state. There has been from time to time in Tallahassee and certainly in Washington as well. But the problem he's describing is much broader than trade and trucking. We are a high- cost, low-wage state now.
DOBBS: All right.
DAVIS: And whether it's insurance or property taxes, unless we start investing in education and job trade to target the kind of jobs that will benefit whether it's trade or anything in the economy, we in Florida are going to lose the middle class.
DOBBS: We got one more question. Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, my name is Shaun Cutter (ph). I'm an I.T. developer. And you talk about education (inaudible) I see I.T. developing jobs going to India. You know, what can be done to keep the -- you know people who go to college, get an education, to keep those jobs here? And also with NAFTA and CAFTA, what can be done you know before these trade agreements were put into effect, we were exporting goods to Mexico. We had a surplus of Mexico. We had a surplus overseas. And now we see trade deficits with all of the countries, Canada, Mexico, China, and what can be done to -- you know so we are creating jobs here that export goods, other countries want to buy our goods.
DOBBS: (inaudible)
DAVIS: Right. A lot of the trade deficit is attributable to the heavy flood of cheap consumer goods from China and the Far East. Our advantage as Americans is our ingenuity and our innovation. What we need to be doing is investing in the next generation of engineers and scientists. A lot of the students in our graduate schools now are from other countries because we are not filling those spots. We educate them. They leave and compete against us. So I think the ultimate deficit here is one of human capital. And we need to get very bullish about investing in education, starting in early childhood, kindergarten through 12th grade and higher education to create the next generation of (inaudible) and scientists.
DOBBS: Did you vote for CAFTA?
DAVIS: I did not.
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DOBBS: You are a good man, Congressman. Let me say why. Because what wasn't said there is that these are not free trade agreements that this country's been entering into in either a bi- lateral basis or in any other form in the case of CAFTA. These are outsourcing agreements, and it's that straightforward. The off- shoring by U.S. multinationals stripping American middle class jobs and this country has got to awaken to it, because I can guarantee you that folks we talk to all over the country, not just here in Tampa, but across the country, they've had a bellyful.
DAVIS: I withheld...
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DAVIS: I withheld my vote on CAFTA because of enforcement issues we talked about and also to try to pressure the president to start investing in job training. And Lou, I believe our future in globalization is the nation's governors, Democrat and Republican, aggressively investing and training Mike's workers, the next generation of college graduates and vocational students so we can compete.
DOBBS: I admire the sentiment, I admire the gull. I support it. There's just one problem. Right now half of all black students in this country are dropping out of high school. Half of Hispanic students are dropping out of high school. The national graduation rate if you believe the Department of Education statistics are that we have a 70 percent graduation rate. And that's inexcusable. We -- before we start job training, we've got to start -- we've got to recapture the great equalizer, don't you think, Congressman, in this society, that great equalizer is our public education system.
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DAVIS: Lou, I ran for governor because this state is nearly last in the country in spending in education and graduation rate and SAT scores. And people in this room and in this state are demanding we change and start investing in our people again.
(APPLAUSE) DOBBS: Amen. And, Congressman, I can't tell you how proud I am that you said investing in our people, not in human capital. I love the sound of that. Thank you very much.
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Next, we'll be joined by the head of a national organization dedicated to working for high quality, affordable healthcare for Americans.
And we'll be talking with the woman who runs the public schools in Tampa. The superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools will be addressing all of the issues that are being raised here and a lot more as our Town Hall meeting continues from Tampa, Florida. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Welcome back to our town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida tonight. We are talking about the issues that are confronting not only the folks here in Tampa, but America's working men and women all across this country, our middle class, the foundation of this country.
Now two critical issues that are of concern to nearly every American family: healthcare and education. And joining us now, Ron Pollack. He's the executive director of Families USA.
Ron, good to have you with us.
RON POLLACK, EXEC. DIR., FAMILIES USA: Good to be here.
DOBBS: And Mary Ellen Elia, the superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools.
Superintendent, it's good to have you with us.
SUPT. MARYELLEN ELIA, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY: Thank you.
DOBBS: I want to turn right to our audience and get their questions and I imagine there will be more than a few.
Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Phil Armstrong from Lakeland, Florida. One of the things that I worry about a lot is whether I'm going to have enough money to pay for drugs which I need to keep going and whether the prescription drugs are going to outpace what I'm able to do and wind up spending money for the necessities to cover our drugs.
What are we going to do about letting the secretary negotiate drug prices as the V.A. does already, and what are we going to do about having an affordable, usable healthcare system that we can work with?
DOBBS: That's plenty to chew on there, Ron.
POLLACK: Well, that's a great question. And this issue is going to be addressed early on in January because right now, the law prohibits Medicare from bargaining for cheaper prices. And guess who gets hurt? It's senior citizens and others on the Medicare program, and it's the taxpayer. Now, Medicare is the largest payer for prescription drugs. And it's the only payer that's prohibited from doing any bargaining so...
DOBBS: But what about other organizations that do bargain? Like the Veterans Administration? What's the difference in price?
POLLACK: Well, for example, the Veterans Administration, it bargains for cheaper prices. And we at Families USA continually do studies to take a look at the difference in prices. For the top 20 drugs prescribed to seniors, the V.A. gets a much better price than any of the Medicare plans end up. And the median price difference is an astounding 46 percent.
We can fix that, and if we fix it, not only will it make more -- drugs more affordable for seniors, but it will help the taxpayer who is paying 75 percent of the bill.
DOBBS: Great. Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, I'm Brad Monroe (ph). Forty million Americans don't have health insurance. And there's a bill that's stalled in the Senate, the small business health plan, which would allow trade organizations such as -- I see AARP here and the National Association of Realtors, to provide that health insurance for its members. How can we get this moving along so we can get these uninsured Americans with good health insurance?
POLLACK: Well, you are absolutely right in pointing out that there are so many people who don't have health coverage. In the United States, we have got 46.6 million people. That's more than the aggregate population of 24 states plus the District of Colombia who are uninsured. Here in Florida, there are almost 3.6 million people uninsured.
Now on the question you raise about how can small businesses get help, the concept of allowing small businesses to band together, that's a good concept. Unfortunately, the legislation that's pending in Congress is actually poor legislation because what it does...
DOBBS: So what should we do?
POLLACK: Well, we should allow the banding together of small businesses, but not the legislation that's pending in Congress because the legislation in Congress eliminates all consumer protections.
For example, if you have a health problem, you are currently protected from being discriminated against in terms of money going to an insurance company. So we should allow the banding together of small businesses, but without eliminating all these consumer protections that are critically important. DOBBS: Do we have another question? yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, my name is Chris Sprout (ph). I'm a law student here in Tampa. We talked about America and the competition. Of course, education is no different and we seem to be falling behind. Why don't we put more power in the hands of parents by using vouchers and education tax credits?
DOBBS: Superintendent?
ELIA: Well, I think vouchers are really a distraction against public education.
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ELIA: We need to -- we need to focus on what the whole system is going to do for all Americans. And you're right, we have to improve it. We are doing that in Hillsborough County. It's absolutely critical that our students are trained. We've talked about that. If you think of all the questions that have come in here, education has been a key.
Lou, you've mentioned it a number of times. If we don't focus on what's happening in our public schools -- our public schools are the places that most of us are -- have been educated, our children are educated, and they are the future of America. We have to focus on that.
We have to make sure that our schools are successful. And you do that by supporting the great professionals we have teaching in front of kids every day. And you focus on what students need to be successful. If you have schools that are in trouble, you go in, and you fix them. And you keep focus like that and then, we don't need vouchers.
I'm not afraid of accountability. We need to be accountable, and we need to be accountable to parents, to our schools, to all of our teachers, to the job market so that we can make sure that we actually are training people appropriately.
DOBBS: What would you think, Superintendent, if I said to you, I don't care about the job market. I don't care about international competitiveness, I don't care about any of that. All I care about is educating my daughter, my son in public schools, which is the absolute equalizer.
When we have people distorting the argument, I happen to agree with you, by the way, I've got to apologize, vouchers are all about choice. I think we only have one choice in this country, and I couldn't agree with you more. That choice is to take control of our public schools and give our children highest quality education possible.
(APPLAUSE)
And I get so tired of people talking about international competitiveness and all of this other nonsense. This country produced through its public school system, the great equalizer in this great American society of ours, produced millions of young men and women who entered the job market and did just wonderfully.
It has only been in the last six years that the American labor force was too uneducated, too stupid, too lazy to compete. The variable is not our labor force. The variable is our trade policies and a lot of other issues surrounding our communities.
But choice, I hope all Americans will make one choice. And that's to return glory to our public education system. We're going to be right back. We are going to hear a lot more from this audience in Tampa, Florida. And next, we are going to find out just how optimistic the people of Tampa are about whether a democratically-led Congress will better meet their needs and the needs of the nation.
Will the 110th Congress deliver all that change that all the political pundits and savants say they demanded on Election Day? We'll have their views here next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Welcome back to our town hall meeting here in Tampa. The midterm election resulted in an outright rejection of Republican leadership in Congress, and not a single Democratic incumbent lost an election. The election was about change, as Bill Schneider now reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Was the Democratic victory last month more of a vote for the Democrats or against the Republicans? We voted to throw the bums out, the people say. What were they so upset about? Iraq, corruption, illegal immigration, Iraq, health care, government spending, Iraq. The economy? Not especially, but Iraq, for sure.
Two-thirds of Americans believe a Democratic Congress will be good for the country. But how much will Democrats be able to accomplish? The president still has veto power. We could end up in gridlock. Better than one party rule, the voters seem to be saying. And if divided government doesn't work, the voters are perfectly capable of throwing all the bums out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Well let's hear now from some of our members here in the audience. Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wesley Miller (ph), I'm chairman of the board chamber of commerce. Over the years I've worked on a lot of different political campaigns and on the local, state and national level. And at what point are we going to get -- and it's really great to hear the bipartisan politics here tonight -- at what point are we going to be able to get back to bipartisan politics where we quit voting for special interest groups and we take care of the citizenry of the United States?
DOBBS: Anybody want to take that one on? Senator Geller?
STEVEN GELLER (D), FLORIDA STATE SENATE: Let me speak only in the Florida state. Senator Ken Pruitt, who is the Republican president has in fact created the Senate Democrats pretty well this year. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I've been saying a lot of nice things about him while we are still sitting around together singing kumbaya. I'm not going to if this changes. But right now in the Senate at least, I do see that bipartisan spirit where we are -- the Republicans clearly appear to have heard the message. What the same thing the Democrats have. The public is tired of us sniping at each other and they want us to work together for the common good. Speaking on behalf of the Senate Democrats, I can promise we are going to try.
DOBBS: You seem pretty excited about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lou, my name is Marcus Lawrence (ph). I'm an attorney with Thorne, Lawrence (ph). In having seen the election and then having heard the Florida legislators up there tonight speaking, I found that exciting, that they actually heard the voice of the people and are planning on being responsive. Of course the proof is in the pudding. Where we are ...
DOBBS: You better believe it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... two years from now. But I believe that the American people and the people of the state of Florida, they have a power and we have the influence to make these politicians do what we want to if we're critical.
DOBBS: What's your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is, how do we maintain focus in between elections? How do you engage the public? How do you keep them motivated and focused so that we can carry through and follow through and hold them accountable at the ballot box in two years?
DOBBS: I think that's a great question. Anybody want to take that on? Senator Haridopolos?
MIKE HARIDOPOLOS (R), FLORIDA STATE SENATE: Well I think that's a great question. And that's why we need more of, politicians coming out to see you. I know as a teacher myself at the community colleges, what I try to do more than anything else, Lou, is to go out and talk to students and talk to chamber groups every single day.
DOBBS: You teach in a community college?
HARIDOPOLOS: I teach U.S. history at a community college. And to me, that's the ultimate future. My dad was an FBI agent and the ultimate civil right is an education, in my view.
DOBBS: You know, along with everything else in public education, I just want to say for everybody here, I have a brother-in-law who makes me say this, but I happen to believe it. Community colleges are the best education bargain in this country and kids need to take advantage of it.
I agree with you. We are going to have to continue here in just a moment. And you know, you are talking about politicians going out to meet the people. My part of that answer is you go meet those politicians because sometimes they get tied up and they're busy and they don't get the opportunity to come over and talk to you.
But if you show up in their city hall meetings, their school board meetings, you come by and visit with a school superintendent, you'd be thrilled to have a bunch of folks come by, wouldn't you, superintendent?
ELIA: They come all the time.
DOBBS: That's what we want to hear. Get involved. Daniel Patrick Moynihan called it participatory democracy. And if you're not participating, it's not democracy.
Next, we'll explore further what these people in this town hall meeting are thinking about what they can expect from that brand new Congress come January. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Welcome back to our special town hall meeting here in Tampa, Florida tonight. Tampa is a city whose working men and women are definitely feeling the effects of this nation's war on our middle class.
Let's hear from more of the folks here tonight.
Yes, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pamela Terrell with Terrell Real Estate Group. I don't have a real estate question. But what I have is a medical health care question. Recently my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And our family was just thrown around. I want to know between the Medicare system and the Medicaid system and the hospital system, if you are not prepared or you are not educated enough -- because we were able to figure it out, but there are a lot of families that are not -- how do you focus around it and unravel that maze?
Because the questions that you answer or the classification that you place your parent or retiring parents in, they're lost at that time. And everything means something at that time.
CROWD: (APPLAUSE)
DOBBS: Well, first, (INAUDIBLE) an answer -- Ron Pollack.
RON POLLACK, EXEC., DIR., FAMILIES USA: Well, I think there are a couple of things we can do, that we can do this year in Congress. First, with respect to Medicare, we can make this program a whole lot simpler. It is so confusing. I think we can fix that.
Now I think one of the big tests for bipartisanship that was asked about before, is there's a real opportunity in 2007 to cover every single child in the country with health coverage. There are nine million children in the country who are uninsured, over 700,000 children in Florida are uninsured. And I think the real test for bipartisanship will be: will in this year, Congress cover all the children?
You know, there were strange bed fellows. Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch were the original sponsors of the legislation for children's health care. So we can get the job done with bipartisan support.
DOBBS: Well, just a second.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm concerned about our retiring elderly. I'm concerned about these patients that are diagnosed with terminal cancer or they're dying. And what is happening is, our system is so confused between Medicare, Medicaid and hospitals that the family approaching those systems, they don't know exactly what to do because they can take the wrong answer, ask the wrong question (INAUDIBLE)
DOBBS: Right. She wants to know...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... the maze...
DOBBS: ... the maze of programs and systems.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
POLLACK: Well the perfect example of what you are describing is what happened with this new Medicare prescription drug program. There are about 50 plans in every community. You've got to think -- they've all got different premiums and co-payments. You've got...
DOBBS: What's the solution, Ron?
POLLACK: We've got to allow Medicare to run the program so that everyone will know what they're getting, as opposed to having a myriad of different plans that are very confusing.
DOBBS: I'm sorry your family's going through that. And I'm sorry we don't have better answers.
But we're going to start, I think, with real serious purpose come the new year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
DOBBS: Thank you.
Anybody else?
Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, my name is Jim Weiss (ph) and I'm a professor at Hillsborough (ph) Community College in Tampa.
I want to ask this question on behalf of my students because the number one thing that's on their mind...
DOBBS: Uh-oh. When students ask...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... is student aid and real student aid, not more student loans and more student debt. We need to start looking at this as an investment, not an entitlement. And it's -- you talk about confusion, the confusion, the Byzantine procedures for financial aid make the tax law look simple.
When and are we going to see -- are we going to see something from Congress -- with this new Congress to simplify student aid and invest in our future and our students?
DOBBS: Senator Geller?
STEVEN GELLER, (D) FLORIDA STATE SENATE: In 1996, we in the legislature passed the Bright Future Scholarship. I am the last member left in the legislature today that was one of the original sponsors of the five bills that became the Bright Future Scholarship, the prime sponsors.
I can tell you that the Senate President Ken Pruitt is one of the strongest defenders of Bright Futures. And we will repeal it over my dead body. And people keep trying to reduce it.
The Bright Future Scholarship, Lou, if you don't know that, gives from our lottery dollars scholarships to most students in the state of Florida that have a decent GPA.
DOBBS: It's a great program.
Senator Geller, thank you very much.
I'm just going to add one thing real quickly. Talking with Congressman George Miller of California, going to be the chairman of the Education Committee just yesterday -- the fact is, he's made a commitment, they in the Democratic leadership say they will follow through to cut by half the interest rates that are being charged for student loans and to drive more Pell Grants for lower income students. These represent to me important advances in investing in our young people and critically needed.
We're going to continue with this town hall meeting from Tampa, Florida in just one moment.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: We'd like to thank all of our guests. And so, we're going to do so.
Thank you all for being here. Thank you, all the -- I was going to say the good people of Tampa -- the great people of Tampa.
You guys have been absolutely wonderful to be with. We appreciate you sharing an evening with us and everybody watching around the country.
Thanks to the Italian Club of Tamps for making...
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