'Meet the Press' transcript for October 18, 2009

SEN. DODD:  Well, I think it--a strong bill that does exactly what we've talked about:  increasing that access, increasing quality and making it affordable.  Affordability, affordability.  Just to site two states, by coincidence; in Jon's state there are 900,000 people without insurance, one in five in Arizona.  He loses 280 people a day that drop insurance.  I lose 100 a day.  I've lost 28,000 people in Connecticut that have had their insurance dropped because they've lost their jobs in the last year alone, David.  Those kind of numbers cannot continue.  The people in Arizona and people of Connecticut, for every uninsured person, pay almost $2,000 in premium costs per year to pay for the health care showing up in an emergency room of the uninsured.  We need to address this issue.  So I'm hopeful accessibility, profitability, but affordability for middle-income families is going to be critical.

GREGORY:  Let me move on...

SEN. KYL:  David, I...

GREGORY:  I want to just move on to the--with a couple of minutes.

SEN. KYL:  No, can I just respond to that?

GREGORY:  All right, go ahead, quickly.

SEN. KYL:  In my, in my state this Oliver Wyman study, not the one that Chris criticized--or that you criticized earlier, in my state increased premiums for a family under this bill, $7,400.  That's not the kind of reform that Arizona families are looking for.

GREGORY:  Let, let me move on to the issue of what's happening on Wall Street and this expanded bonus pool and record profits.  This is what The Wall Street Journal reported this week:  "Major U.S. banks and security firms are on pace to pay their employees about $140 billion this year--a record high that shows compensation is rebounding despite regulatory scrutiny of Wall Street's pay culture.  ...  Total compensation and benefits at the publicly traded firms analyzed by the Journal are on track to increase 20 percent from last year's $117 billion--and to top 2007's $130 billion payout." Senator Dodd, you're chairman of the Banking Committee.  All of these bailouts, the state of the American worker, is there something upside down and wrong here?

SEN. DODD:  Well, no, David.  Look, first of all, the good news is the economy's getting stronger and getting better, and that's the positive news. We went from 700,000 job losses a month in January to numbers today which are not great, but they're a lot better than they were.  And obviously, we're not talking about a depression as we were a year ago.  So things are getting better.  Now, obviously, when you see these bonuses being paid out, it's a source of outrage in the country, and it should be.  What are these people thinking about at these companies?  We have poured a lot of hard-paying taxpayer money into these firms to stabilize them, to get our economy moving again.  We have banks that are not providing credit to smaller businesses and others to get the economy moving.  Now, things like the clunker bill--Johnny Isakson, the senator from Georgia and I are working to extend the tax credit for home purchases, not just new homebuyers, things that will get the economy moving again.  But these firms on Wall Street need to understand that what they're doing by providing these bonuses, particularly when they received so much federal money, is an outrage in the country.  And my hope is that Ken Feinberg, who's walking on this--working on this, and others, we can do something about getting these firms to back up and reduce these bonuses.

GREGORY:  Senator Kyl, should there be dollar amounts, should there be limits on compensation that the government sets?

SEN. KYL:  Well, in the event that the government basically bails one of these outfits out, it has the, the right and the ability currently, as Chris just noted, to put limits on the compensation and the kind of compensation. But I think we need to get--be a little careful about this.  In the Baucus bill that passed on--last week on the health care, there's a limit on insurance company salaries; not just for the top executives, but any employee or any consultant, the people that work for any consultant that's hired.  So let's be a little bit careful that we don't get the government intruding in the business of America to the extent that our free enterprise system is crippled by business regulations.

GREGORY:  All right.  Finally, a final question, Senator Dodd, on politics, the politics of 2010.  According to recent prose--polls, rather, your job approval rating in Connecticut is below 50 percent, at 43 percent.  Why do you think voters are losing confidence in you?

SEN. DODD:  Well, well, David, I'm not sure how to answer.  We've been through a tough time, obviously, over the last year.  But I'm confident, again--do the job, work hard on behalf of the people you represent--that those numbers'll turn around.  These polls are a snapshot.  Obviously you pay attention to them, but wish they were better.  Obviously had difficulties. But I'm confident, again, a year from now that if I continue working hard on their behalf that these things will turn around.

GREGORY:  We will leave it there.  Senator Dodd, Senator Kyl, thank you both very much.

SEN. DODD:  Thank you, David.

GREGORY:  And coming up next here, A Woman's Nation, our special report on the state of women in America:  Maria Shriver, John Podesta and more with Valerie Jarrett.  Plus, our MEET THE PRESS Minute.  A look back at a very different time for women with activist Gloria Steinem, only here on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

GREGORY:  A special report on women in America with Maria Shriver, presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and John Podesta after this brief commercial break.

(Announcements)

GREGORY:  We are back, rejoined by senior adviser to the president Valerie Jarrett, who chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls; and the first lady of California, Maria Shriver, who co-wrote "The Shriver Report" with the Center for American Progress, headed by John Podesta.

Welcome to all of you.  This really is, Maria, I have to say, it's such an interesting report, and it has really gotten people talking.  More people will talk, I think, around tables like this and their kitchen tables and at home. So here is the report, and I think that there's a couple of real standout takeaways that'll get us started here this morning.  The first thing is about the status of women in the work force, and here it is.  We'll put it on the screen.  Look at that.  Now nearly 50 percent--and by the end of the year they will be 50 percent of the work force.  Compare that to 1950, when women were just 29.6 percent.  And there's more.  Almost 40 percent, 40 percent of working wives are earning as much or more than their husbands, they are the breadwinners.  How do those two points underscore the title of this report, "A Woman's Nation"?  How do those make this a woman's nation?

MS. MARIA SHRIVER:  Well, I think what's really important is these changes are permanent.  Women are now half of the work force, two-thirds of mothers are primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners, and that this is where we are now in this country.  And that change affects every institution that this country is dealing with.  Less than 30 percent of kids have a stay-at-home parent today.  What impact does that have to the government, to business, to men, to women, to faith-based institutions?  So this report tries to chapter those things out and say all of these institutions have failed to adapt to this change that has happened, and that in order for them to survive and become smart about the American worker they must adapt and must change.

GREGORY:  Valerie Jarrett, we'll talk about the government's role in a little bit.  But as a woman, as a top adviser to the president, as a former business executive and most important, as a mom, what does this mean?

MS. JARRETT:  Well, first of all, I want to congratulate Maria and, and John for having pulled this report together.  It's phenomenal.  We've reviewed it. We are just, just overwhelmed by their willingness to put the effort into this and to bring this to the national spotlight.  And frankly, to you, David, for giving us this forum on MEET THE PRESS to discuss this very important issue. I was a single mom.  I know what it's like to try to figure out how to meet the goals of your job and, and be professional and still raise a child and have her turn out as well as I think my child has turned out to be.  You can't do that alone, and the existing institutions really have to change to foster this new dynamic.

GREGORY:  Mm-hmm.

MS. JARRETT:  And the fact of the matter is it isn't just about women.  I chair the Council on Women and Girls, but we say all the time that this is a family issue.  This is a family issue.  And so we have to look at this from the perspective of how can the family thrive in this new work environment and how can we foster the changes that we need both in business and in government, faith-based institutions, not-for-profits, all of it coming together?  Because that's what it's going to take to really meet this new dynamic that we have in the work force.

GREGORY:  And, John Podesta, what's interesting--I mean, look, this is very much my life.  I mean, this reflects my life.  I'm blessed to be married to my wife, Beth, who's a prominent trial lawyer, and, and so some of these realities I've been living with all the time that I've been married.  But these are profound changes.

MR. JOHN PODESTA:  Right.  And I think they kind of snuck up on us.  I noted in the book, my mother in the 1950s went to work.  They--my parents had a tag-team marriage.  My father was a blue collar worker, my mother worked at night as a pink collar worker.  But they kind of snuck up on us.  And what we thought in doing this report and the partnership with Maria was really focusing on the fact that now two-thirds of women in America are breadwinners or co-breadwinners would force a change in the way business and government, faith-based institutions, the media take a look at these issues and provide more flexibility for people...

GREGORY:  Mm-hmm.

MR. PODESTA:  ...to try to relieve the stress that comes from having people trying to work.  But look, the battle of the sexes is over, David.

GREGORY:  Right.

MR. PODESTA:  Three-quarters of American public think this is a good development, it's here to stay.

GREGORY:  Right.

MR. PODESTA:  And it's really critical to the economic success of American families.

GREGORY:  That idea--I just want to get to that, Maria, the idea of the battle of the sexes being over.  In your essay in the report you write about that, and this is what you say:  "What we heard loud and clear" as you've been around the country, "is that the battle of the sexes is over.  It was a draw. Now we're engaged in negotiation between the sexes.  Virtually all married couples told the pollsters they're negotiating the rules of their relationship, work and family.  An overwhelming majority of both men and women said they're sitting down at their kitchen tables to coordinate their family's schedules, duties and responsibilities, including child care, elder care, at least two to three times a week.  Men said it was more like every day."

MS. JARRETT:  Right.

MS. SHRIVER:  That's right.  I'm sure you would probably agree with that.

GREGORY:  Right, absolutely.

MS. SHRIVER:  I think what's, what was interesting to me about that is how often people were sitting down, what they were negotiating, how much more involved this generation of men are in raising families; but still overwhelmingly, women feel that the--they are primarily responsible for all the child care and all the elder care.  Elder care is a huge issue in this country today.  And when we talk about people being able to take time off from work to care for an elderly parent, something like 300,000 teenagers in America today are caring for people with Alzheimer's.  The institutions need to adapt to who the American family is today.  They need to get smarter.

GREGORY:  Mm-hmm.

MS. SHRIVER:  They need to get more progressive.  And I think we should even throw out this term "family-friendly." It's smart family policy.  It's smart for business; businesses retain women, do well with the bottom line.  This is smart government policy to figure out how to help and support the American worker who is stretched, men and women, on both ends of the spectrum.

GREGORY:  But, but there's still--I mean, as I've been thinking about this, Valerie, there are still very different expectations on, on women vs.  men. We can talk about negotiations.  You know, negotiation in, in my own marriage over all of our various responsibilities with two careers and with, you know, three children; and yet whether it's the kids and how they respond to my wife when she comes home at the end of the day or the, the, the reaction they have when she leaves that's different than the reaction than, than I leave, when I leave.  There, there are different expectations that women are still challenged by.

MS. JARRETT:  Well, that's right, there are, and that's why we have to make sure that the workplace setting is one that is sensitive to those.  And that--and also, though, David, more and more men are getting more involved in child care, they are taking more of a role.  And I think what we want to do is to create for the family more flexibility in the workplace environment.  We are all telling personal stories, and I think it's important to reflect on the president's life.

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