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| Clarice Tinsley |
Part 2 airs Thursday at 9PM on KDFW FOX 4.
ON WHETHER OR NOT FINDING THE MISSING MALAYSIAN AIRLINES PLANE IS A TOP PRIORITY
"Oh absolutely. I mean first of all, we want to send out our thoughts and prayers to all the families that have been affected, but particularly our American families, who I can only imagine what they are going through with all of this uncertainty that's taken place. We have put every resource that we have available at the disposal of the search process. There's been close cooperation with the Malaysian government and so not just NTSB but FBI all, anybody who typically deals with anything related to our aviation system is available and so, our thoughts and prayers are with the families, I want them to be assured that we consider this a top priority and we're going to keep on working with the international community to see if we can get to the bottom of this."
"Well, part of the challenge is that when you have a lot of unanswered questions, people start speculating. And, sometimes it gets reported as news and that's hard for the families. We have tried to be very careful in saying that we do not have conclusive evidence one way or another as to what happened. As we get more information, we try to make sure that when the administration speaks, we know what we are talking about. But this is a tough situation. It's a big piece of planet that we're searching and sometimes these things take time, but we hope and pray that we can get to the bottom of what happened."
ON RAISING MINIMUM WAGE
"You know, I have to say that every time there has been a debate about the minimum wage, this issue gets raised. And yet, we have evidence that when the minimum wage gets raised that's not what happens. What happens is that people who are working full time but still living in poverty get a little bit of a boost. They're able to pay their bills at the end of the months. Twenty eight billion people would benefit if we raised the minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour. And that makes a difference in a lot of families and a lot of differences to whether they are going to be able to buy groceries or pay the electricity bill. The majority of folks in low wage jobs our women. Often times, who may be supporting children on their own and so when more workers have more money in their pockets, they're also customers. They spend more, that means businesses have the opportunity to get more profits, the economy as a whole gets a boost, America grows best when it grows from the middle class out, from working families doing well, to everybody doing well. Right now the minimum wage is where it was when Ronald Reagan came into office. In fact, it's a little bit lower. That doesn't make any sense. The cost of everything for everybody has gone up and at a time when the economy has grown, cooperate profits have rarely been higher, the stock market is booming. The idea that we can't make sure that our workers get a little bit of a boost, doesn't make much sense to most people."
ON OBAMACARE
"Well, look it's tougher when states don't cooperate. I mean, keep in mind that right off the top, you've got a million Texans, who don't currently have health insurance that we know we could sign up right away for health insurance through medicaid, if Governor Perry and others decided to do the right thing. It wouldn't cost Texas a dime right away. The federal government would pay for it. The idea that political reasons those folks aren't getting the help they need doesn't make sense. Now, in addition, what we've also seen is that when states don't corporate that means local groups, churches, synagogues, community organizations they are having to do their own out reach with not a lot of resources. We're doing everything we can to help. We have seen some surge in enrollment in Texas overall. We now have seen despite the terrible problems we have had with the website that first month and a half, which was entirely our fault, what we have seen is over five million people have now signed up and people still have two weeks to sign up, until March thirty-first. What folks are finding, even some folks who are opposed to the law and didn't like when they heard is actually when they go on the website, healthcare.gov, they find out it's actually a good deal. They can potentially get health insurance for a hundred dollars or less...good quality health insurance that gives them free preventative care, gives them financial security that they need. We're particularly reaching out to Latinos in Texas and other areas where they are most likely to be uninsured. And so between the healthcare.gov site, the...quidato...the...uh...the....Spanish-speaking site that we have, CuidadoDeSalud.gov, we have the opportunity to make sure that people get signed up over the next couple weeks. They will enjoy the kind of financial security and health security that really is priceless."
ON COLLEGE BASKETBALL, WHICH PRESIDENT OBAMA IS A FAN OF
"Larry Brown is a great coach, and you know, I think it's a great story for him to have everything that he has accomplished both at the college level and the pro level to go back to the school that didn't have the great tradition of basketball and really build up a wonderful program, so my suspicion is that Coach Brown and the team will be back. I want to congratulate them on a great season."
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