This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," June 7, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Good morning. A massive hack on federal government servers, leaving many wondering just how vulnerable we are to another attack.
Hi, everybody. I'm Maria Bartiromo. Welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures."
Chinese hackers apparently behind this.
What did they learn and just how porous is our country's cyber systems?
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise will join me momentarily.
Plus, President Obama at the G7 summit this weekend, set to meet with the prime minister of Iraq who criticized the U.S. for not doing enough to fight ISIS.
But the U.S. with plenty of concerns of its own about Iraqi troops. A former commander of the Army's Delta Force will be with us, talking strategy to defeat the terror group.
And then three more candidates entering the race for the White House as comments from Hillary Clinton about voting rights get the GOP field fired up.
Our panel will begin right there as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures. "
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BARTIROMO: Well, federal employees hit by a massive cyber attack, personal information for at least 4 million employees exposed over the course of three decades. Hackers in China appear to be the culprit, targeting the Office of Personnel Management, which manages employee records for every federal agency.
Now, the White House is slamming Congress, saying it has not kept the computer system safe and up to date.
Joining me now, Republican Congressman Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who is House Majority Whip.
Congressman, great to have you on the program.
REP. STEVE SCALISE, R-LA., HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: Great to be with you, Maria.
BARTIROMO: So what can we be doing right now to ensure that we don't get these kinds of hacks?
Is the president right?
SCALISE: Well, no. In fact, this is the president's administration. Typical example of the president having something happen right under his nose.
For goodness sake, the White House was hacked not too long ago and then trying to blame somebody else.
This is the second attack at OPM, the second data breach at OPM. This is a federal agency that the president has authority over, not Congress.
Obviously we're going to look into this at the congressional level, but with 4 million more federal employees having their personal data, Social Security numbers and other information at risk, the president ought to be working with us to do more to go after China and these other countries that are trying to steal data, not just at the federal level, but in the private sector as well.
BARTIROMO: It certainly identifies a vulnerability.
So can you talk to us about the vulnerability that we face right now as a country?
How safe are our computers, I mean, government computers?
SCALISE: I mean, the fact you have had multiple data breaches, not just two at OPM, but even at the White House. The White House has been hacked themselves. It shows you that these state sponsors -- this isn't just some kids sitting in a basement. These are countries actively going in and trying to steal data, not just of federal agencies, but of individuals in major corporations.
So it's a major problem. It's been a problem for a long time. We need to do more. We've passed two bills out of the House, by the way, to increase protections of individual citizens and federal agencies.
The president sat on the sidelines for those legislations. Maybe he wants to get in the game, roll up his sleeves and work with us to get those bills signed into law.
BARTIROMO: It's interesting because there is a balance to walk in terms of protecting our data but also protecting our privacy. So let's talk about the disagreements and how you walk that balance.
I guess Mitch McConnell and John Boehner sort of went at each other and had a conflict over the use of protecting data and the PATRIOT Act.
SCALISE: Absolutely. When we went through this in the House, it was a real delicate balance that we worked out to make sure that our intelligence agencies can gather the data they need to go after terrorists all around the world who we know want to do us harm while also protecting the privacy of individual citizens.
It's a delicate balance I thought we worked really well to achieve. It was a bipartisan agreement we got. We sent it to the Senate. They maybe wanted to go in a different direction for a while and realized, to get to 60 votes, it's hard to strike that balance.
We did a good job in the House. Ultimately, they took the bill we passed and sent that to the president. He just signed it a few days ago. So I think this is going to continue to give our intelligence agencies the tools we need, but we also added new protections for individual privacy of American citizens.
BARTIROMO: That's what people want to know, we want to talk more about this, Congressman.
A lot more with Congressman Scalise this morning. But first, let's take a look at the president's controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Want to get your thoughts on the TPP, Congressman.
He's trying to persuade lawmakers to give him the power to compete and then finish the new treaty with 11 other Pacific Rim countries. The president says it's good for the middle class. But even members of his own party are skeptical.
So what would this bill really mean for jobs and wages for American workers? FoxNews' senior correspondent Eric Shawn on that angle.
Eric, good morning to you.
ERIC SHAWN, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Maria and Congressman.
And good morning, everyone. We've been here before. The White House promoting an international trade agreement that supporters say will open up foreign markets and help our economy. The critics call it a boondoggle giveaway that will cost U.S. jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSS PEROT, 1992 INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have the most productive work force. When you get down to where the folks do the work, guess who is still number one in the world? This country is.
SHAWN (voice-over): Well, remember that giant sucking sound? Ross Perot in 1992, warning about the North American free trade agreement, the NAFTA agreement that unions now blame for costing upwards of 700,000 U.S. jobs. Well, those echoes are being heard now yet again.
This time the debate is about the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which would lift barriers between the U.S. and 11 Pacific nations. And yes, that includes Mexico yet again. The agreement would, supporters say, pump billions into the U.S. economy from those foreign markets, but is opposed by many Democrats, progressives and unions, all warning about the results. The AFL-CIO laid out its concerns in this video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): When the United States is forced to compete with countries with exploitive labor practices, wages for America's workers will go down. The TPP would allow trading partners to manipulate their currency and would ship even more U.S. jobs overseas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHAWN (voice-over): And despite the opposition from some in his own base, the president is strongly pushing for the plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The fact is there are many areas where we disagree, but the president and some Democrats in the House of Representatives agree with the vast majority of Republicans that the trade promotion authority that legislation has passed in the Senate is in the best interest of the U.S. economy.
And hopefully Democrats and Republicans will be able to work together to pass it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHAWN: That vote in the House could come this week. But the fallout from any agreement may not be known for years. Just like a legacy of that NAFTA debate and Ross Perot's warnings two decades ago -- Maria.
BARTIROMO: All right, Eric. Thanks very much. Eric Shawn with the latest there. More now with the Majority whip in the House, Steve Scalise.
Congressman, let's talk about TPP for a second here. First of all, China not involved in this program. We're trying to do a trade deal with other countries within the Pacific Rim.
What's the strategy there?
SCALISE: The strategy is right now in Asia we really don't have access to a lot of markets. So if you're making products in America, anybody can come in and bring their products into our country. We have a very open economy. We're for free trade in general.
But what American trade is all about, what this agreement is about, is getting access to Asian markets and European markets for American products. Frankly, right now we need to give American workers a competitive advantage so that they can go in and compete in those other countries.
Where we compete, we win. Right now China has been writing the rules of the game in Asia. What this agreement is about, getting the ability, number one, to put constraints on the president, so that on the front end, when he's negotiating, we literally, in the bill we're moving to pass, we literally put over 150 different clauses that limit the president's ability.
He can't put things like global warming pacts in this agreement. But then it also gives Congress full veto authority on any deal. So if it's a bad deal, we can literally veto it before it even moves forward.
If you had this with the Iran negotiations, I think many people across the country would say that's a great deal. This is something that gives us the ability to give American workers a competitive advantage so that we can go compete in places we don't have trade agreements, where China's been writing the rules.
How about if we write the rules for a change?
BARTIROMO: It's really important here because that's where the population growth in the world is. You're seeing countries like Indonesia. That's where you're seeing growth in economies, so America has to get their products in there.
SCALISE: Right. And there are so many products. Whether it's agricultural products in America, manufactured products in America where we just can't get those products to a lot of these countries. We'll beat them on competition.
But right now the rules of the game are written against us. We need to flip that around. And there's strong accountability in this bill that ensures that our products are going to have open access to places where they can't go right now. Let's go and export and create more good jobs in America, open up more markets for our workers to go compete and win.
BARTIROMO: What are the potential downers in terms of not getting those constraints on the president?
Go through some of the things that you've -- Congress has actually insisted on putting in this bill to limit the president and how he's dealing with some of the countries overseas.
SCALISE: Well, things like protections of proprietary information. You see countries like China stealing our data, stealing our information. So companies that have great ideas come up with great new technologies in America. Countries like China try to steal that all the time.
We have real protections here that they have to comply with the protections that we have of information.
But the other thing is, we're actually going to be opening up those markets where right now they have high tariffs. For example, if you're trying to build a foreign car company, I've talked to governors who said they can get foreign car companies to build plants in America where we make those cars.
The problem is they won't build them here right now because the tariffs are too high if we sell them to other countries. You knock those barriers down, you'll actually see more development in America. You'll see more investment in America in the ability for us to go compete in those countries where right now they have barriers against us.
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: So you don't think the unions understand that?
SCALISE: Well, I think some of these unions are just misguided in terms of what it takes to compete across the world. If you think that the United States can just sit around and compete against itself, this is a global economy. In fact, most of the trade, most of the economic activity goes on in other countries.
We can make most of those products, but right now, they have rules that block us from selling to 'em. Let's knock those barriers down.
American workers will compete and win when we get that opportunity. We just need to knock the barriers down so that they can go and have access to these other growing markets. These are big growing markets around the world.
BARTIROMO: Understood. Congressman, good to have you on the show today.
SCALISE: Great to be here, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much. We appreciate your time, Representative Steve Scalise, majority whip in the House. We'll see you soon, sir. Thanks again.
Coming up next, ISIS on the agenda. With the president set to meet with the Iraqi Prime Minister at the G7 summit this weekend, after the Iraqi leader blasted the U.S. for not doing enough in the fight against ISIS. What the U.S. should and should not be doing. We will talk with a former Delta Force commander weighing in.
Hope you'll follow us on Twitter @mariabartiromo, @sundayfutures. Let us know what you'd like to here on that story as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures" this morning. Back in a minute.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
President Obama expected to hold a one-on-one meeting with the prime minister of Iraq. This after the Iraqi leader criticized the United States' coalition for not doing enough to defeat ISIS. It also happens as we get word that Iraqi forces backed by Shiite militias just recaptured key parts of a northern refinery town from the terrorism group. The troops reportedly still advancing in the area that fell to ISIS a year ago.
Joining me right now is retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin. He's former Delta Force commander and executive vice president of the Family Research Council.
General, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much for joining us.
LT. GEN. JERRY BOYKIN (RET), EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Thank you, Maria. Good to be with you.
BARTIROMO: Let's first talk about the upcoming G7 meeting in Germany. The president is going to be meeting one on one with the Iraq prime minister.
What are you expecting out of that meeting?
BOYKIN: Well, what I'm expecting is more rhetoric that will come out of the meeting. I think that it's laughable that the prime minister would criticize America for not doing enough, but I think that what we're going to wind up doing is more of the same, which is providing more weapons and equipment to an army that has a history of throwing them down, fleeing, and turning them over to ISIS.
BARTIROMO: Well, I mean, that's the issue. So what are we supposed to do after we've seen time and time again we're sending equipment, sending, you know, support, and ISIS is actually rolling over the Iraqi forces?
BOYKIN: Well, ask yourself, who are the real fighters? Other than ISIS, who are the real fighters in that region? The answer is it's the Kurds. The Kurds, the Peshmerga, have a long history of being willing to take on these forces down in the Baghdad region, these forces that are surrogates for Iran.
They have a long history of being willing to fight. We've seen that. We saw that, you know, for the last year.
So, the people that we should be arming and equipping are the Kurds. And we shouldn't do it through Baghdad. We should do it into Irbil. Fly airplanes into Irbil, offload weapons and materiel and let the Kurds become the ground force that everybody keeps talking about.
BARTIROMO: I think both, you know, everyone agrees that that is one of the answers. How come it's not happening?
BOYKIN: Well, because this government in Baghdad is corrupt and because everything that the United States sends to the Kurds goes into Baghdad for distribution to the Kurds, but it never gets to the Kurds. We haven't provided the Kurds with anything, and it's time that we bypass Baghdad, bypass this surrogate government for Iran, and we start supplying the Kurds directly.
These people will fight, and they can make a difference in this fight against ISIS.
BARTIROMO: I see.
Meanwhile, you've got Iraqi officials saying that ISIS fighters have cut off water to the towns, loyalist towns, in and around Ramadi. They've taken down Ramadi, obviously. The Pentagon has confirmed that 10,000 ISIS fighters have been killed in battle, but they're still, you know, controlling and sort of dominating the region.
BOYKIN: Look, we did this body count assessment in Vietnam. That doesn't work.
When you kill 10,000 and you recruit 20,000 in the same period of time, it seems like the odds are not in your favor. What we need to understand is that with our Special Operations forces and our air power, particularly our Air Force air power, if we turned our Special Operations Forces loose and let them accompany the Kurdish fighters, the Peshmerga, to direct air strikes, to call air strikes, to use laser-target designators to designate specific targets, we could have a huge impact not just on killing ISIS -- which I believe is a good thing -- but also in destroying their command centers, destroying some of their key nodes, which is all part of being able to defeat them ultimately.
BARTIROMO: Meanwhile, how does Iran fit into all of this, sir? Because we are continuing these talks with Iran over a nuclear agreement and the deadline is at the end of the month, June 30th, which, of course, very few people believe will actually yield anything. And the president of Iran, Rouhani, is vowing to back Syria's pro-Assad forces, he says, quote, "until the end of the road".
BOYKIN: Yes, you know, if you were -- if you were sitting in Baghdad and you were, let's say, a fighter for the Iraqi army and you saw what the United States was doing with Iran, you saw that the United States was foolishly acting like we were going to come up with some kind of serious treaty with Iran, would you be willing to go out and fight ISIS knowing that the United States is not going to do anything to help you, the United States is all sold out to Iran.
This is -- Maria, this is foolishness. Everybody knows this is foolishness. And the only strategy that I see by this administration is to send Josh Earnest out to try and convince America that no matter what's going on on the ground, no matter what's going on behind closed doors in this treaty, Josh Earnest has supposed to convinced us that everything is good and we're going to come out of this in very good shape. That's not true.
BARTIROMO: Well, that's -- I guess there's a perception out there, I think, that you are articulating.
Sir, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much, General.
BOYKIN: Thank you. Glad to be with you.
BARTIROMO: We'll see you soon. We appreciate it.
Why are so many American families not benefiting from the improving economy? Meanwhile back at home, what would raising interest rates do? Business mogul Sam Zell is with us today as we look ahead on that day when the Fed does start raising rates on "Sunday Morning Futures." He's next.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back. How does a 90 percent tax rate sound to you? One presidential candidate says it's a great idea. Vermont Senator and 2016 hopeful Bernie Sanders says he could get behind raising tax rates back to levels not seen since the 1950s.
Sam Zell, Equity Group Investments' chairman and co-founder, joins me now to talk about the impact of such a move on business and the economy. Sam, great to see you.
SAM ZELL, EQUITY GROUP INVESTMENTS CHAIRMAN & CO-FOUNDER: Thank you. I think the only thing this will get behind is further and further in any race for presidency.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, exactly.
ZELL: I mean, it's stupid. The answer is it's the same wealth redistribution junk that has been going on for the last six years. There's a reason why the growth rate of this country has slowed, because we've taken our focus off of growth and focused on redistribution. And the impact of no growth, or limited growth ,is pretty devastating.
BARTIROMO: Let me move on to the economy in general. You've invested so much over your career. How would you characterize things right now from a real estate perspective?
ZELL: I think the real estate market is OK. I think it's come through the recession better than any other recession since World War II primarily because it was in better shape when it went in. But I think that, you know, we have enormous liquidity, and that liquidity is driving prices that I think push the edges of credibility.
BARTIROMO: And that's what's happening really across markets. These record-low interest rates really dictating behavior.
ZELL: Sure.
BARTIROMO: So what happens when the Fed starts raising interest? Because I know you're not expecting a lot of interest rate increases because the economy is just not warranting that. But do you expect an impact once the Fed starts raising rates?
ZELL: I think the bigger impact might be on the dollar. I mean, if there's one arena that I am most concerned about, about the overall world economy and the U.S.'s position, it's the loss of control of currencies. And it smells to me like we're going a lot closer to beggar thy neighbor, and the last time we tried that it wasn't so good.
BARTIROMO: You know, you see the headlines, jobs numbers looking a little better than expected. And yet, when you talk to the average guy in (INAUDIBLE), the average family, not feeling all that optimistic because they haven't seen their wages move in seven years. What's behind the economy today in terms of where we really are? And why do you think people are not feeling it?
ZELL: Well, I think that, you know, we haven't had the growth. We haven't had that underlying pressure, that quote/unquote "lifts all the boats". We have an enormous amounts of liquidity, but we also have an enormous amount of underemployment. And we have a record number of people who quote/unquote "are out of the work force". So to me, if you included the people who are, quote, "out of the work force", the unemployment rate is more than double than what the numbers, or what the newspapers claim it is.
BARTIROMO: What do you think it would take to actually move the needle on that? How do you create jobs?
ZELL: Reduce regulation. There is probably nothing that is a better job killer than regulation.
BARTIROMO: And we've seen Dodd-Frank, ObamaCare, EPA -- across the board, heavier regulation.
ZELL: Much heavier regulation. And I think it's very counterproductive, and I think it's a big contributor to the very slow pace of growth.
BARTIROMO: So you've been a seller in real estate, Sam.
ZELL: Yes.
BARTIROMO: Are prices sky high and getting away from people at this point? I mean, prices keep going up.
ZELL: Well, we're talking about commercial real estate. And I think the answer is commercial real estate is doing well. Part of the reason it's doing well is that there's a significant optimism that rates are going to go up -- rates meaning rental rates are going to go up. Maybe they will.
That connects together with usage. You know, look at retail. You've got the bell curve. You got the very high-end malls doing great and you've got the strip centers doing fine. And everything in between is some form of a disaster.
So there's lots of places in the real estate market where things are changing. And so it really very much depends on what kind of real estate you're talking about.
BARTIROMO: Where are you finding value? Are you still finding any value? I mean, even you look across the world and you're seeing valuations go up.
ZELL: Well, I mean, obviously as you go across the world, there are different economies, different situations and each one is very unique. I mean, real estate by definition is ultimately local. And so in some markets in the world, you might have, you know -- we have a self-storage platform in Brazil that's doing very well while the rest of the country is suffering significantly. So the middle of a big mess, there's an opportunity. And I think you could replicate that all over the world and find places that are much more attractive or unique circumstances make for different opinions.
BARTIROMO: Sam, great to have you on the show today.
ZELL: Thank you so much, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much for joining us. Sam Zell joining us here.
Coming up next, Hillary Clinton attacking several GOP presidential hopefuls over the issue of voting rights. Now they are blasting back.
Plus, there are new revelations about the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal and the concerns voiced by federal officials years ago. Our panel will begin right there as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures. "
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SHAWN: From America's news headquarters, I'm Eric Shawn. Here are some of the stories making headlines at this hour.
A prison break sparking a massive manhunt right now after these two convicted killers escaped from a maximum security prison in upstate New York. And they used power tools, we're told, to make their way out. On the left is Richard Matt. He's 48 years old, serving life for killing a sheriff's deputy. On the right, David Sweat; he's 34 and is serving 25 years for three counts of murder and kidnapping. Prison authorities do not know how the prisoners got those power tools to apparently cut a hole in the wall of their cell. Officials are warning the general public to stay away and call the police of course if the men are seen.
Meanwhile, police in West Virginia capturing these two teenagers, 15-year- old Rosa May and 16-year-old Triston Kindle. They're being called a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. The runaway Ohio teens allegedly armed with a shotgun when they went on a three-state crime spree. It began Monday when they stole a truck in Ohio and ended when police spotted the couple driving a different stolen truck in West Virginia.
And I'll be back with Arthel Neville at noon Eastern with more news. Then the doctors are in. Dr. Siegel and Samadi join us as always two hours from now "Sunday Housecall" at 12:30. So for now, I'm Eric Shawn.
Back to "Sunday Morning Futures" and Maria.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Eric.
New fallout after Hillary Clinton called out Republican governors, singling out those running for president, over states' voting rights.
Now the GOP White House hopefuls are blasting back, accusing her of intentionally misleading voters. This, amid a new revelation in the Hillary Clinton email scandal as Fox News learns that the feds raised concerns about the former secretary of state's recordkeeping years earlier then it all came to light.
I want to bring in our panel. Ed Rollins is former principal White House adviser to President Reagan. He's been a longtime strategist to business and political leaders. And he's a Fox News political analyst.
Judith Miller is adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute for policy research. He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, and a Fox News contributor.
And Don Peebles is with us today. He is founder, chairman, and CEO of the Peebles Corporation and a former member of President Obama's national finance committee.
Good to see everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.
All right, let's talk about Hillary and her criticism of voters' rights, and voting right in elections. Does she have a point?
ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST; No, she doesn't have a point. Everybody who's 18 is eligible to vote. We don't have the discrimination that we once had in this country. Most states have been forced to very rigid examples of where people can vote and make every effort to make them vote, whether it's early voting or what have you.
And people just are not turned away at the polls like they once were.
BARTIROMO: It's interesting that she's coming up with this to discuss on campaign stops.
ROLLINS: And the Justice Department has been all over the south in the past 25, 30 years and I don't think anybody can point to a place where there's actual discrimination where someone 18 years old registers basically can't vote.
BARTIROMO: Right. That's right.
JUDY MILLER, MANHATTAN INSTITUTE: No, these are base pleasers. This is what she has to do in order to get the Hispanic vote, the people who feel excluded, even if they're not. And it's interesting to me that she's not actually going against the voter ID laws that 30 states have passed, requiring some kind of state or federal sponsored identification. But she's giving incentives, making it easier to vote. I think it's a very smart position, myself.
BARTIROMO: But it's also all politics.
MILLER: Of course.
DON PEEBLES, CEO, PEEBLES CORPORATION: Look, I think this is an example of where the Democratic Party -- and Hillary is playing with the same playbook that was done 20 years ago or so.
The reality is, is every American in this country has a right to vote, and except in isolated instances, people are not stopped from their ability to vote.
But what it does is serve as a distraction. The fact that we're talking about this playing to her base when African-Americans and Hispanics are suffering economically, and if you look at the statistics in terms of income disparity, it's ten to one, whites to Hispanics, and 13 to 1, whites to African-Americans. And yet, there's no discussion in the Democratic Party about upward mobility or about an environment of opportunity. And that's how she's going to win an election, by talking about opportunity.
And ff the Democrats go down this road, about voting rights and about income inequity without any solution, it's a pathway to defeat.
BARTIROMO: I think you make a great point, Don.
But the fact is, she doesn't want to talk about anything. She's not doing interviews. And so she decided that this subject she would go into, and she would start talking about, but it's her decision in terms of what she wants to address. I think that's why people on both sides of the aisle want to hear her views on just what you said.
RIDDELL: Well, they do. Because obviously she has to distinguish whether she's going to be the third term of Obama or she disagrees with him, or the third term of her husband. And I think to a certain extent, she's been on the campaign trail for two months now. She's not articulated her vision of where she wants to take the country. And I think to a certain extent until she does that, she's going to continue to falter and she's not going to be able to do that until she goes and talks to media people.
MILLER: Look, I understand why she's not going out there and having a press conference, because I wouldn't want to answer the questions either about her email servers, about the other questions that reporters are going to ask her. If you don't have good answers, it's best not to have the press conference.
BARTIROMO: You wrote in your notes, a speech is not a press conference, not even in Hillaryland.
MILLER: That's true.
But we're talking about campaign tactics here. And so far, I don't see anything that threatens denying her the nomination.
PEEBLES: Well, I would agree with that right now. But I think that she should engage the press. See, I think that she should -- her way -- this is not going to go away. The email crisis that she's having is not going to go away without her doing something. Her numbers are declining significantly. Her favorabilities are dropping so fast it's becoming a real problem.
She should take control of this. She should start changing the agenda -- the topic, and changing the debate, talk about what Americans really are concerned about. Move on from this.
And I think if she did that, then she could engage in the press and control the debate for a while.
She's out here all by herself on the Democratic side.
BARTIROMO: By the way, as a voter and a citizen, I'd also like to get her take on Iran. And these ongoing -- I mean, these are all issues that are...
ROLLINS: She had a bad strategy when she ran against Obama, and oviously it was a faulty and she stuck with it all the way and lost the primary. She has a bad strategy this time. And the strategy has got to be. She's got to go out and convince the American public, besides being the first potential woman president, why she is able to lead this country effectively in the next four or eight years.
BARTIROMO: Let me get to Howie right now to tell us what's coming up top of the hour on "MediaBuzz". Howard Kurtz in Washington. Good morning to you, Howie.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "MEDIABUZZ": Good morning, Maria.
We're going to look at the dramatic development and the strange indictment against Denny Hastert, a woman telling ABC News that her late brother was abused by the former House speaker years ago in high school.
And also, the polarizing media debate over the Duggar family, the reality show parents with 19 kids, who of course talked to Megyn Kelly this week. And two of the daughters who very emotionally blamed the media and a tabloid for outing them as victims of molestation. A lot to talk about on Media Buzz.
BARTIROMO: There sure is. We'll be there. Thanks so much, Howie. We'll see you in about 20 minutes.
The GOP race for the presidential nomination getting more crowded, meanwhile, than the pack at Belmont Racetrack yesterday.
Who is officially in and who is out? We're going to take a look when we come right back with our panel on SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back. The GOP presidential field getting even more crowded this week. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham formally entering the race for nomination, some others getting closer as well. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal setting dates for their official announcements right along with real estate mogul Donald Trump.
We want to bring back our panel, Ed Rollins, Judy Miller and Don Peebles. What did you make of the expanded field this week?
ROLLINS: Well, you also left Pataki out, which most people are saying, why, as opposed to Perry, who I think most people are saying this guy is pretty good. He's -- I've said this in this show...
BARTIROMO: Pataki came across well, by the way.
ROLLINS: But not in the big world. My sense, Perry, who had a brain freeze last time in the debate, and obviously eliminated himself from being a serious contender at that point in time, could come back this time. He's really an underdog.
If one of these other -- he's the best retail politician I've seen on the trail in a long, long time. And he's got a great record in Texas.
But I think the critical thing here, I think Lindsey Graham is pretty much a South Carolina candidate, foreign policy candidate. The field is still what it is. There's four or five that are going to matter. The big story of the week is Ben Carson's campaign is falling apart. You've got all kinds -- when you're an amateur and have a bunch of amateurs running your campaign, there's all kinds of destructive activity going on.
BARTIROMO: So Ben Carson's campaign is falling apart. And did you see anyone's campaign that improved?
ROLLINS: Well, the important thing is Bush stepped up his time frame. Bush now is going to announce the middle of June, which means he has to walk away from his super PAC and start really focusing on creating a real FEC-bound campaign. And I think it's much better for him.
BARTIROMO: I want to show you two polls, everybody. The one poll I want to show you on the Democratic side, actually, who -- the people, the number of people out there who would vote for Hillary versus others. Because now even the Dem field is also expanding.
Don, I want to get your take on this in terms of Hillary's numbers in the face of all of this scandal, email et cetera, and the incoming candidates there.
ROLLINS: Yeah, well weakness invites competition. And her numbers have fallen. And so I think others who sat on the sidelines thinking she's the inevitable nominee are saying if she can't beat herself, then maybe it's time to get engaged and get into this election.
And I think she has a real risk if she doesn't start taking controls of the debate right now that a viable candidate gets into the race and competes with her for the Democratic nomination.
BARTIROMO: Judy?
MILLER: I think she's the biggest problem she has is that 57 percent don't trust her figure. I mean, that's what's going to push her to, I think, advance her time schedule in terms of when she actually engages with the press and takes on issues.
But other than that, it's hers to lose and she beats every other Republican still in the polls.
ROLLINS: Not by much. And at the end of the day, it's very close. Even Rand Paul is dead even with her.
The truth of the matter is she can't let this drip continue.
BARTIROMO: It is a drip.
ROLLINS: It is a drip. And she's got to answer questions on the foundation. She's got to answer questions on the conflicts with her husband and the foundation. And she's got to answer questions, what people are saying, you're not allowed by federal regulation to have your own email account. When are you going to disclose what it is that you have.
BARTIROMO: How is she going to answer all this, Don?
PEEBLES: I think it's tough for her. And by the way, the questions are going to keep coming. The reality is, is that when given a viable alternative, the Democratic Party will reject her as they did with Obama.
President Obama, four years before being sworn into office, was a state senator in Illinois. And he beat her. He was an unknown.
So the reality is she is beatable, and just like she was beatable before.
I just think that, you know, she engaged early to try to scare everybody and bluff them out of the race. I think that if her numbers keep going down, there will be a viable candidate that gets into the race.
ROLLINS: And her money is not coming in the way they thought it would. She's not anywhere near the matching figure.
BARTIROMO: That's an important point.
ROLLINS: She will long-term if she's the nominee, but she's having a hard time getting the money up and functioning...
BARTIROMO: Let me show you this poll from the GOP side. Because this was who GOP voters would never vote for and who they see as the most viable candidate on the GOP side.
Because as you mentioned, you have Pataki, you have Lindsey Graham, you have Governor Perry. Your thoughts on the GOP field.
PEEBLES: I think Jeb Bush is the best candidate for the GOP side. He is the only one who has had significant private sector experience on bookends of his gubernatorial term. He served as governor for four years. He created over 1.3 million jobs in eight years. He led the state through a transformative change in education. So he has the skillset.
He also has the political skillset.
I think as an alternative, I think Scott Walker and Rand Paul. I think that Marco Rubio will fizz out. He is a great personal story, but America is looking for more than a great personal story, and there's nothing in his career that would qualify him to run the country.
ROLLINS: The critical test for Bush, as I've said on the show before, is he has to win something early on. It's not likely he's going to win Iowa. He's got to win New Hampshire, which is not easy, because everybody is going to get in there if he doesn't Iowa. He's got going to win South Carolina with Lindsey Graham and others in there.
Obviously Florida becomes -- March 15th, becomes the big day. If beats Rubio there, then maybe he moves forward.
If Rubio beats him in Florida, no matter how good a talent he's been and what his experience is, he's going to have a hard time moving forward.
MILLER: As we've said, I think Jeb Bush appeals to independents like me, the people who would normally be voting Democratic are more likely to vote for Jeb Bush than they are a Scott Walker given his position on unions.
But Rick Perry had an amazing launch this week.
BARTIROMO: He did.
MILLER: He really, really did. And he's one of two candidates who has actually had military experience in a time when Americans are worried about ISIS.
ROLLINS: His Iowa state -- Judy and my dear friends who are independents and Democrats and you're for a Republican, the likelihood of some conservative out there is not going to be very happy. This is a conservative primary process. Until you get late in, until you get to California and New York and elsewhere. This time it may last in the end and Bush may have the advantage in that sense because of his money. He's got enormous sum of money in his super PAC.
BARTIROMO: All right. Let's talk money and economics next.
The feds saying that there are new jobs out there. But it's not all good news on the U.S. economy. The mixed messages coming out about who's working and who isn't as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures" next.
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BARTIROMO: Well, the big economic number to watch this week, retail sales out on Thursday. There have been mixed messages in this May's jobs number, as we look ahead to the second quarter. The unemployment rate ticked up a tenth to 5.5 percent, not great news, but there were 280,000 jobs created and added to the economy. That was the good news.
We are back with our panel, Ed, Judy, and Don.
Don, your assessment of the economy today?
PEEBLES: Well, look, it's very good news that we continue to have job growth, that's a very positive step. The challenge we see, though, is that income is not growing. So personal household income is still down, and that's a big problem. And I think why we're not seeing as much participation from consumers is that they're cleaning up a lot of the mess of the past debt and other costs that were deferred during the recession.
So the challenge is that we've got to get small businesses to grow even more. They created about 60 percent of these new jobs. And we need to create an environment where they can prosper and create more jobs, because that's where they're coming from.
Large corporations created about 13,000 of those jobs. And so that tells you where these jobs need to come from.
BARTIROMO: That's not a big number.
By the way, it's very hard to create jobs when you have a regulatory environment that is keeping businesses sort of frozen.
MILLER: Yeah, well, we know about that in New York City. Nevertheless, in addition to more jobs, we also did have some wage growth finally, you know, 8 cents an hour, according to the figures, which is important.
I'm more troubled by the 10.8 percent that still say they're either working part-time or are no longer looking for work. Those are really very tough figures to get around.
ROLLINS: When you really look into these jobs numbers, if you're a skilled worker -- if you're an electrician, if you're a plumber, if you're a machinist, you can find work. There's plenty of work out there...
BARTIROMO: Right, but that requires skill.
ROLLINS: If you're a medium skilled or unskilled, there's no market. And the problem with the minimum wage going up everywhere, is that people will basically say, all right, the way I'll do this is I'll work them fewer hours, I'll basically offset it by have fewer jobs or go to technology. And that's a very scary thing that nobody wants to discuss.
Everybody wants to change the playing field, but when you do that, the small franchises that are large segment of small business are going to be affected.
BARTIROMO: Because it's a different economy today. Technology is replacing workers.
So you need a certain skillset in order to actually get that job that's available.
ROLLINS: Absolutely.
MILLER: And manufacturing continues to decline in terms of job creation.
BARTIROMO: Are we seeing any policies out there that actually could move the needle on this? Potential policies?
PEEBLES: No, I think -- I think we're actually seeing policies that are precluding any kind of growth. You're seeing greater regulation. You're seeing higher taxes. You're seeing this pattern around the country of significantly increasing minimum wage.
So all types of regulatory attacks on small businesses. And I don't think that's going to free things up until we look at opening up the opportunities for small businesses to grow through less regulations.
BARTIROMO: Well, I love...
ROLLINS: And fewer -- I mean, and the critical thing is a tax reform is very definitely needed in this country, not just for the large corporation, the highest -- small business pays an extremely high tax. And if you could just -- that would give a big break, hire people and the whole nine yards.
BARTIROMO: I love Sam Zell's (ph) reaction to Bernie Sanders 90 percent tax rate. All right, we're going to take a break and then the one thing to watch in the week ahead on" Sunday Morning Futures."
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BARTIROMO: And we're back with the one thing to watch in the week ahead. Ed Rollins?
ROLLINS: I'm watching the Supreme Court. Three big decisions: the ObamaCare decision, the gay marriage decision, and the one about, how do you define a voter in a district that's going to be a big, big decision.
BARTIROMO: Judy?
MILLER: I'm watching the vote as we speak in Turkey. This is one of the few stable countries in the Middle East. President Erdogan wants a presidential system. Can he get enough votes to get it?
BARTIROMO: Don, real quick.
PEEBLES: June 16 housing report release so we see how we did in May.
BARTIROMO: All right. Well, we'll be watching that. And I've got retail sales on my mind. That's out on Thursday.
Thanks for joining us on "Sunday Morning Futures." I'm Maria Bartiromo. Join me tomorrow on my new morning show on Fox Business Network, "Mornings With Maria", 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
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