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♪ ♪ ♪ >> heard around country, and seen on current tv this is the bill press show. >> 24 minutes after the hour, if you will court press here, coming to you live on this thursday morning on your local progressive radio station and on current tv. by the way, join the chat room. it's a lot of fun. i love seeing so many people in the chat room. you can get there, of course, right on the front page of current.com during the show or our website, billpressshow.com. what to expect from the supreme

court. james carville says a friend of mine, a friend of yours, james carvel says, the best thing that could happen would be for the supreme court to overturn it. i want to hear from you, 866-55-press. yes usei think he is wrong, dead wrong. you don't want to lose. i don't think you ever want to lose. >> that's like saying, you know, kentucky goes into the finals this weekend and it would be great for them to lose because then they could say, yeah, we won all the way, all the way, almost won. no. no. you don't ever want to lose. i am afraid losing would mean too many people are not happy with the health care plane in the first place because there is no public plan option. they are going to say, you see it was a waste of time. let's walk away. obama can't get anything good done. i want to win. i want to win. sharon is calling from loveland colorado. hi, sharon. >> hi, bill. >> hi. >> okay. thanks. i don't think so. >> you don't think what?

>> i don't think that it would be all bad if we lost. >> really? you agree with carville? >> in a way. i don't think the compromise that we made with the right, the individual mandate. it goes against migraine to force people to buy a product that makes the insurance company companies richer. i think if we lost it, it would go back to single high payer, and we already have that on as being constitutional because we have got medicare. -pair, and we already have that on as being constitutional because we have got medicare. it would takegive people a longer time to get tired. >> sharon, share sharon, you have to recognize, i am a single-payer guy. i agree with you on that. president obama took single pay payer off of the table before the debate even began. he said that was not one of the things we are going to consider. so if we lose in the supreme court, i think the chances that

then president obama is going to say, okay. we are going to come bapck. we are going to come back to single-pay single-payer, i don't think it's going to happen. appreciate it. i mean you are an optimist. i think i am a realist on that point. tee is calling from park forest illinois illinois: hi, tee. >> good morning. >> like talking to that lady why do you think that the president would not go back to sing-pair? >> he doesn't believe in it. he doesn't believe in it, tee. he said that. he is for some sort of combination private-sector government program. and i mean, look. just because he's -- the truth is, he is not as liberal as bernie sanders or dennis kucinich or johnpete welch, the champions of sing-pair. >> payer --

>> i think the mistake was you cannot leave the so-called health insurance companies in the equation. you have to remove them from the equation. over the yearin europe, it's a crime for anyone to make a profit off of primary health care. >> yeah. >> and i know a woman personally who had breast cancer in the. in the middle of her treatment, they cut her off. >> yeah. exactly. tee, look. you don't have to convince me why sing-payer is right under the bill, by the way. get the insurance companies out of the equation totally. >> that's what dennis kucinich has said bernie sanders has said. president obama is not there. you know what? he ain't going there. he is just not the liberal that you might think he is. so that's why it's more important to win in the court with what we've got, which is as good as we are going to get out of obama.

>> this is the bill press show. ♪

♪ >> there is listen and watch the bill press show on your favorite radio station, and now on current tv. this is the bill press show. welcome to the spin room. >> about 33 minutes after the hour, happy thursday the full court press coming to you live coast to coast from our studio here on capitol hill washington d.c. brought to you by the sheet metal workers international of america. the good men and women of the sheet metal workers, a faye

day's work for a faye day's pay. find out more at smwia.org. we are juggling a lot this morning. your calls on whether or not we want -- we should be as liberals, as progressives hoping for the sproeshtupreme court to uphold or overturn the afford affordable care act, 866-55-press. we are also going to be talking a little energy before we get back to your calls. jumping into the spin room you have heard a lot about who hasn't heard now for the last week or so abc news particularly has been beating the drums against pink slime and this -- they succeeded in getting most of the big grocery chains to drop any ground beef with this additive with amonia in it that is made up of beef products and is called "pink slime" gubut the governor of iowa says, this is good stuff. i love it. >> for over 30 years, people like me have been eating this along with my family.

it's 100% beef, and it's a good quality product. >> i don't care how long you have been eating it. if it's pink slime, i ain't eating it. peter? >> if he is so sure that it's safe, let's see him drink a nice big frosty glass of pink slime. just because he's been eating it forever doesn't mean it's okay to keep eating it. >> it's pretty gross. >> yeah. >> do they take all of the parts that would that would probably be thrown out with the trash? and grind them up? so that's beef. they are beef parts. >> products. >> right. >> parts. and they put amonia in it with, this chemical to preserve it and then they add it in with your ground chuck? >> that's it. >> that's how it works. >> you are probably getting maybe half real beef and half -- >> lips and a-holes as my grandfather used to call it. >> pink slime?

terri bran steady sorry about that. health care, if you listen to mitt romney or newt gingrich or rick santorum on the campaign trail, what you will come upaway thinking is that we have shut down oil production. we have shut down natural gas production in this country, that we are more and more dependent on foreign sources of oil and that basically, obama administration is going to sleep when it comes to energy production. what's the truth? that can trad i couldn't by an article in "the new york times" last week, the headline us inches toward goal of energy independence. so i want to get to the bottom of this this morning with you, and that's why i am pleased to welcome to the program michael levy is the dennior fellow for energy and environment at the council on foreign relations. hey, michael, thanks for getting up early for us this morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. so what is itthe truth? let's just start with the drilling that president obama -- and i am not trying to get you you know, to get involved in any

political race here, but what's the truth about oil and gas production in this country today? >> the numbers are pretty straightforward. oath oil protectionduction and natural gas production have been heading up. that referses trends that we have been seeing for a long time, gas production was falling for about a decade. oil production, too. both arehave been being increasing. >> both have been increasing. has the number of new permits increased under president obama? >> and has it done so at a faster rate than it did under george bush? >> do you know? >> this is a mixed bag. a lot of what's been happening under this president has been on private lands. the gas boom in particular has been happening on private lands and the oil as well so it doesn't require permits one way or another. what it requires is that the

administration let private enterprise do its job. >> that's what has been happening. now, they have been taking a serious look at the environmental consequences a lot of this development, as they should. i think there is one lesson we could learn from the bp oil spill a couple of years ago, it's that if you let this development happen without any controls, it screws itself up. >> yeah. >> mistakes, there is a backlash and that's what hurts development, not this extremely heavy hand of government. >> that's what you see the administration trying to do now, making sure it's done safely so that it can continue without a backlash. >> talk to me about the private land/public land issue because i have heard this raised at white house briefings. let's start with deep water. i mean obviously the deep water horizon, the accident, right? i mean put a lot of people, alarmed a lot of people about what was happening there in the gulf. have there been any new deep

water permits allowed since that crisis? >> there certainly have been. there was a pause for a while, while the administration tried to re-assess the safety situation. i think you can make an argument -- i think there is a fair argument to make that they were a bit slocuming back online. no policy is perfect. there is an argument to be made that they should revisit their decision to reverse opening some of the either off-shore lands that they had previously considered opening. but if you just look at the net numbers, we are back to the pre- pre-spill pace of permitting except with tougher standards in place. >> and how -- are we more or less depend ent today on -- i have heard this, you know, eave would the we have to have energy independence, free ourselfves from foreign oil. i have heard that for the last 30 years. have we made any progress?

>> look, we are part of a global oil market. >> right. >> when something bad happens on the other side of the world, we are vulnerable, but the reality is that we are producing more and more important, when it comes to vulnerability, we are consuming less. so when the price of oil goes up, the economy as a whole doesn't hurt as much. however, having for four years in a row now, after it was heading up for decades. and that's extremely important if you look at some of the standards that are being put in place for fuel economy, for cars, light trucks or heavy vehicles over the next decade. if we keep those in plates we are going to continue to cut our consumption. and that's ultimately the biggest, most powerful thing we can do to make ourselves more insulated from the global oil market. >> what about the percentage of oil that we import from overseas? >> it's been going down. it's pretty straightforward. if you are producing more and

conassuming let's, the percentage that you import from overseas is going to drop as well. and it's been dropping. again, this is one of these big reversals after a couple of decades of en he have tablei /* enevitable decreases. the last time we saw digbig decreases in imported oils was in the early 1980s and late '70s. we put the alaska pipeline in place and consumed less because we did the first fuel economy standards and prices keeping people from functioning checks. it's that combination again, smart, pro-production policy, tougha tough policy that will incurred with efficiencies. it can deliver that. >> michael levi is the senior fellow for energy and environment at the council onphon relations. follow the good work of the council on foreign relationsats

cfr.org. just wanted to get the facts, just wanted to get the numbers. michael, thank you so much for your time this morning. >> thank you. >> now, if you look at the numbers, if you look at the numbers, santorum, romney and newt gingrich are just simply not telling the truth when it comes to energy. >> that's very, very important. i want to take one more call here on health care from jake in rodondo beach, california. james carville said the best thing that could happen to president obama would be to lose in the supreme court. what do you say? >> congratulations on your current show, bill. ? >> how about it? thank you. >> impartially in agreement. i won't say it's the best thing because i like a lot of the provisions in the bill and if the supreme court knocks it all down, i think we lose. but i think getting the public option back on the table would be a good thing if they take up the individual mandate and it would actually vie, while in my opinion, the liberal progressive base to go out and vote for the

house and the senate races, which could make the public option vieable. >> uh-huh. yeah. ? >> more democrats in the senate and the house so there would be more votes for a public plan option. >> right. i think it's something, some of the provisions are so popular for republicans, moderate republicans might actually vote for a lot of the democrats that would be in favor of this as well. >> i don't know whether i would go that far. you are expecting a lot of these, a lot from the republicans. i appreciate the call. we will continue to get your comments on the debate. you can weigh in. do you want to win, or do you want to lose in the supreme court? come on. nobody wants to lose. do they? >> not what it's all about. i play the mega millions. i play to win. i don't playn play to lose. full-court press, thursday march 29th. >> this is the full court press,

the bill press show, live on your radio and on current tv. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ radio announcer ] he puts up the shot for the win! ♪ ♪ [ mayhem ] it's march and it's mayhem. and if you've got cut rate insurance you could be wishing it was february.

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♪ ♪ >> the latest from the world of politics, this is the bill press show. >> 13 minutes before the top of the hour. congress woman rosa delaro from connecticut here in the studio as well as senator chris kuhns from the state of delaware my home state. good man, chris kuhns, good lady rosa velaro. be fun to see both of them. they will be here, too. i talk issues with you and take your calls. meanwhile, on the political fronts before bewe get back to your calls about health care and

before we get to the political front, just one little reminder: this is, of course tax time. ran into a friend of mine walking home from the decide yes yesterday on the way histo his accountant, had all of his records under his arm and the irs is warning us, if you are one of those who is filing electronically quidado because identity thieves know on those returns, on that little electronic transmission is all of the information they need to take over your entire life, your name social security number your employer, kids' social security number, the whole enchilada. it's a good thing for the irs to warning warn us about that. what are we going to do about it? in our indication, carol and i have signed up for life lock ultimate. lifelong and i are on a mission to help stop identity theft butthey can't protect you if you don't bleeping. call and mention press 60 for

the 60 risk-free days for identity theft protection. if you are not happy call them in 60 days and they will give you a full re-funneled. see lifelock.com and give them a call at 3565967. 18 hoe 0-35675967. 1-800, 356-5967. remember a few months ago, newt gingrich said the answer to our budget problems, particularly at the local legalvel is to fire the janitor janitors, the unnunion janitors and let kids become the janitors in their scootshools and they wouldill have the dignity of a job. yesterday, he was out in the campaign trail and a former janitor, in fact stood up and said, i did that when i was had a kid and it wasn't such a good idea. >> back in high school, i was a janitor at my school in high school, and for me, thoseit was embarrassing to be a janitor because of thei was poor.

my mom was working super heartard. >> newt gingrich fired back and said, well, you may not have liked it but my daughters loved it. >> both of my daughters worked as janitors at the local baptist church and earned the money and they didn't think it was demeaning. they liked that they earned their own money as kids. they kept their own money because they thought work had inherrant dignity. >> i think there is a big difference. first of all, i would love to hear what the daughters have to say but there is a big difference between a kid who is forced to do it in school -- >> yeah. >> in fronts of his fellow school kids. >> exactly. >> and members of a church who sign up as members of the church to help keep the church clean. >> yeah. >> big difference, newt. newt is the a -- any how. joy besideiden out on the campaign trail more and more these days. yesterday, he said, there is only one word to describe mitt romney: >> as an investor businessman? as the governor of massachusetts? and now as a candidate of the.

remarkably consistent. i respectfully suggest, consistently wrong. ladies and gentlemen. >> consistently wrong about everything and this event that the vice president spoke at yesterday was organized by a lady, a woman by the name of dr. paper. yeah. joe got it a little wrong. >> thank you, kerri and thank you, dr. pepper chancellor. and thank you, chancellor. >> dr. pepper. >> dr. pepper. >> i often thank dr. pepper. >> sure sglet. >> get the sugar burst. on the political front yesterday, i have to tell you about arlen spector. he said about mitt romney. he was a little nastier than joe biden was. yesterday, he said that mitt romney has changed positions

more often than a pornographic movie queen. >> nice. >> snarling armticlearticlep. on health care -- arlen. >> what do you want done, donna? win or lose in the supreme court. >> probably, it's a split bag. i kind of think if they lose it will empower the democrats. >> get them riled up? >> sure. sure. my question was more on a legal basis. is it it's the supreme court does deem it is unconstitutional to a mandate we all pay if it would go further as far as we have here in our state a mandate that we homeowners pay for what they call citizens' insurance, which is for people who build on risky areas. >> uh-huh. >> and if the mandate is overthrown, then i mean, the

comparison between a home and a life is a no-brainer. if we are not going to mandate that we take care of our children, should we be mainn dated to take care of oceanfront property? >> that's an excellent, excellent question. i think it gets down to the heart of it, which is the government can mandate you to buy services, but they can't mandate you to buy a product which is why the cell phone and the broccoli thing is kind of just silly. you are right. there would be a presses dent here if the court were to strike down this individual mandate on health care then that would leave individual mandates on all kinds of tory services-- of other services mandated by local governments, state governments and the federal government, leave those at risk. excellent point, donna.

people really love snapshot from progressive, but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers.

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♪ >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time this is the bill press show, live on your radio and current tv. >> politically direct here on current tv and progressive talk radio. so john defalke says i have to agree geraldo's comment that trayvon martin's dress was to blame. he should have worn a teflon vest or a holster with a handgun so he could defend himself.

dr. daniel eudesky e-mails in, bill, it's great to see you and the gang, live and in color. congratulations. well, in color. live? not showo sure. it is early in the morning. >> i am half alive. >> yeah, dr. eudinski says republicans have focused on contraception and who should pay with it. i side with the folks who believe it should be part of any health care plan since birth control pills have they wereir puente puente -- they wereic value. reverend jones e-mails in you are wrong and worse, you are a blasphemer and sinner just like your illegal president. you people had better watch your back because our lord jesus christ is going to get you and all you sinners for your crimes. here that, peter? jesus is coming after you.

>> this is the bill press show.

♪ >> hey. good morning. it is thursday march 29th. good to see you today. welcome to the full-court press here on current tv, u new morning show on current tv. i am bill press. good to have you with us today. we have lots to talk about, but i've got to tell you before you do anything else, please, please, please watch the video. i am talking about a video abc news got of george zimmerman getting out of the police car february 26th, is he tan ford police department. you know that stuff aboutez he had a broken nose? watch the video. there is no blood on his head. he walks on his own.

there are no bruises on his head. there is no blood on his shirt. he does not have a broken nose. it just proves that all of that nonsense about trayvon martin beating his head in, breaking his nose it's all one big fatly. george zimmerman is a liar. watch the video. >> that's one of the things we are going to be talking about this morning. a lot to cover. but first, we go out to los angeles to say good morning to jackie schechner. current news update. >> hill 0, bill. hello everyone. good morning. today's bad news for newt report looks like uncle sheltdon is not going to send checks any more a billion air who has been sending more than $15 million to newt gingrich's super p.a.c., winning our future says he thinks he was at the ends of the line. he told thejournalistseth newt is not going to be a vp pick. he liked him menbecause he was a decision maker but he is pretty much finished. looks like newt will have to rely on the $50 photo and free

social media strategy. romney continues to prove he is out of touch with the average american. it was the lajoya beach renovations with the 4 car garage and elevator and goes on jay leno and talks about how he thinks health insurance works or doesn't work and gets on a conference call and tells a hysterical story about his dad closing down an auto plant in detroit, absolutely hysterical story. yeah, not so much. after three days of oral arguments, the supreme court is now going to take a couple of months before it weighs it in on health care reform. it will decide what goes what stays. what we know for sure according to cnn money is that the cost of health care keeps going up. the average family of 4 will spent more than 20 dollars on health care, up 7% from last year. >> that's with employer paying premiums. those people who pay premiums are othertheir own will pay much more than that. coming up, a good health care advocate in the next hour rosa rosa delaro.

join us in chat. we will be right back.

the newest voice in cable news is on the new news network. >>it is an independent progressive voice and i love that. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. a former two term governor. >>people like somebody who's got a spine. >>determined to find solutions... >>we need government to ensure that people have freedom. >>driven to find the truth... >>what's really going on? >>fearless, independent and above all, politically direct.

♪ >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the bill press show. >> a big thursday morning. welcome here to the full court press. your new morning show on current tv, and continuing hear on progressive radio all the way across the country. great to see you today. hope you're starting off on a good thursday and we will make it better here by bringing you up todate by the latest stories happening in our nation's capitol. >> that's where you loopedfind us on capitol hill six blocks from the united states capitol building and six metro stops from the white house. we have it covered here in

washington, bringing you the stories here from our nation's capitol around the world and around the groen. good to see you. we will take your called at 866-55-press, very pleased to welcome into the studio hear this hour a good friend a neighbor on capitol hill doing a great job representing the people of connecticut's third congressional district, congress woman rosa delaro. >> it's rosa. good morning. it's wonderful to see you bill and dan. it's great to be here. >> thank you for coming in and joining the team this morning peter ogburn. >> good. >> and dan henning, current tv team and our videographer sipring there the man behind the camera. this is what the? next-to-the-last day before you go off on your brake? >> that's right. it is. we will wrap up sometime around 4:00 o'clock this afternoon. >> this afternoon? >> right. >> and then head out. >> was there any -- i want to ask you about this later.

was there any action? when i went from our bedroom here on coop here on capitol hill, we can see the capitol dome. we can see the light on. >> the lights's on. >> when you see it, you know you are there. when i went to bed, the light was still on. was there any action on the highway bill last night? >> no. we are anticipating the transportation bill sometime today. it would appear that we are looking at a 90-day extension and we will see what happens. last night, there were two or three pieces of the budget. >> all right. we will talk more about that in just a moment this is also congresswoman a big day today, this weekend at any rate mega mmz millions, now it's expected to reach up to $500 million. i never buy lottery tickets until it gets real high. now, this intrigues me.

all you need, here. >> only a dollar, you know. so you take a chance. you might be luck. >> a dollar and a dream. >> that's all you need. i love it. a dollar and a dream. >> you know where i get my tickets? at the eastern market. >> wonderful. i don't do this. >> from the greek rosa there. >> mrs. calamari. fabulous. she is a wonderful lady. >> if i wign, she can get a big prize. >> if you hit half a billion dollars, do you tip here? what's 10% of half$10% of half a billion dollars? >> i forget what the vendor, the one who sells the ticket? >> i think it's $50,000 is what the vendor gets. >> depending upon the size of the prize. >> i think it's actually a set price. >> really? >> yeah. i think so. >> they should at least double it for half a billion dollars. good grief. >> can i tell you a quick anecdote? >> please. >> years ago i was a student in

london, i spent my jr.unior year. >> you won the ivy sweeps stakes. >> one saturday morning on a bicycle up to my folks' home in new haven, 538 chapel street, the telegram people, you know western union. okay. so themy dad says to my mom, lou i think they are coming. it's a telegram, it's the irish sweep sweeps stakes but he opened the telegram and it was a telegram from me saying, send money. >> the exact opposite of winning the irish sweepstakes. >> that's what parents with a kid in college get. >> send money. >> senator chris kuhns from delaware is going to join us a little bit later. next hour, david korn the washington bureau chief for mother jones. we have a lot to talk to the congresswoman about. but first headlines. >> full court produce-court press.

>> this thursday president obama, an avid basketball player wants to shoot hoops with jeremy len and ernie duncan told the hill newspaper that lin should expect a phone call because they want to make it happen. duncan is a hand basketball team that is lin's alma mater. >> whose how he got to know about jeremiah lin, through arnie duncan. >> another celebrity on capitol hill, sondra lee for support for federal nutrition and childhood hunger reporting the food network host dating andrew cuomo, first girl. she got tearit. eary-eye eary-eyed. >> if stuff. a good message. >> that's an unbelieveable initiative and effort. and it's worth getting teary-eye

teary-eyed about. >> principlee william and duchess indicate kate will have a new roommate. >> pregnant? >> no. she is not. >> we don't know that. we don't know that. different roommate prince harry is moving in with them. it won't be a crowded small apartment, though. sleeping on the sofa. the brothers are very close, and they wanted to be closer together. so he is moving in and also kate and harry get along. >> that could be trouble. when your in-laws start moving in. >> that's right. >> not so much. congresswoman, let's start with health care. they finished yesterday, the arguments in the supreme court. what do you think is going to happen? >> i don't know what's going to happen. i really don't. i don't have a crystal ball. but i would say to you bill, that i think it would be an amazing overreach by this conservative court if they were to declare any part of this

legislation unconstitutional. >> do you think it is constitution constitutional? >> i do. yes, i do. >> you voted for it? >> yes, it is and it's not unlike other efforts that we have been engaged in, whether it's civil rights or if it's, you know, we do pay costs for medicare, medicaid across state lines, et cetera. so i think it is within -- falls within the jurisdiction of the commerce clause. >> the individual mandate, we were back in 2008, in the campaign, hillary clinton was saying, we need the individual mandate so everybody is involved and barack obama was saying no, no, that goes too far. she ended up winning that argument. is it core to the health care -- >> i believe it is core. i believe it is core to the health care to be able to maintain it. it's simply speaking if you want to drive the cost of health care down, you are then going to have to make sure that everyone or as many people as possible

are covered because if they are not covered, then their costs are going to be picked up by those who are insured. it is a very simple premise. it's in bulk which drives costs down. any shopper knows about that. anyone who, you know, makes their way to, you know to go to these big outlets to save money to do that knows that because you are buying in bulk, the cost goes down. >> it's not everybody -- everybody is not in the foolpool, then those of us in the people end up paying. >> that's what's happening now. my gosh, you know it's on people's hospital bills, for uncompensated care. >> right. >> what this is all about. >> i don't know whether you heard, congress woman but james carville whom we all know bill clinton's campaign manager in 1992, either to stir things up or whatever, he is out this morning saying he thinks the best thing that could happen to barack obama would be for the supreme court to overturn the health care bill because costs

would go up. insurance would go up. republicans would own it, and democrats would get so mad that they would really get out there and really work hard to reassure the president's re-election. >> look, i have a lot of respect for james. he is a very very good friend, and as is mary honestly and so, but my view is i just think that we need to get on with health care. >> yeah. >> this bill is really transformative. >> that's what i believe. i would say probably one of my proudstest moments on the floor of the house was being able to cast a vote for the health care bill. it changes people's lives. we have been trying to do that. >> for a long time? >> for a very, very long time. and theit talks about prevention, talks about bringing down the cost. it increases coverage for people. women, you and i have talked about this it is transformative

in making sure women's health becomes on a par with health care for men in this country. so while there may be political advantage down the road, i think that we need to move forward as we have already with what has already been in place. >> yeah. >> i think that has to be a driver that folks understand what they have already as a result of the affordable care act. >> to build on that rather than start from scratch again. >> i don't think people want to relitigate this. >> yeah. >> they really don't. >> or relegislate it? >> my god, we certainly don't need that process underway again. >> congress womanwoman rosa delauro on this thursday edition of full-court press. i asked you briefly about the highway bill. yesterday, we had secretary ray lahood on the show. >> wonderful. >> wonderful guy? >> wonderful guy. >> i asked him what was going on

with this. i would like to play a little clip from the secretary's interview yesterday and see if you agree with his take on the hold-up in the house. >> unfortunately, they had this 40 to 50 very, very conservative, do-nothing republicans who came to washington to do nothing, and that's what they've done who are holding up the bill. and so again speaker boehner can't, with hez liedeadership, get his troops together. he doesn't want to pass a bill withcrats democrats because that would be embarrassing to him, and he can't pass it as long aziz got these 40 to 50 intransgient conservatives. >> the secretary said the speaker has to step up and say, hey, we need this bill. >> i think the secretary is spot-on. if you know anything about ray lahood, i served with him on the agriculture subcommittee of appropriations and on the proaangs committee. he is a straight-shooter.

>> yeah. >> it doesn't make a difference what side, he tells it as it is. from the port transportation. you want to talk about a key to economic growth and jobs, that's all the piece of it, and if you can't move there because of the intransigience of 40 or 50 people and not being able to corral those folks and lead them to pass a bill, it's really extraordinary. on a transportation bill which in the past has enjoyed bi-partisan support because we know what the economic benefits are from it. >> you have got to move the goods. it's not just getting to grand grandma's house. you have to move the goods around this country by rail, on the highways and everything. and before these bills are always six years, usually five, six years out. right? >> right. >> this bill that passed the senate was a two-year bill. >> 2-year bill. >> remember, james inhoff and barbara boxer were the leading

sponsors of that bill. i mean if you get those two together on anything. >> my god, you know, but trough. >> >>. >> now in the house, you can't even get a two-year bill? >> no. you made the point, you know, we are pulling back on high-speed rail. >> yeah. >> in this country. we know that this is -- this is as i said, economic growth for the future. it's about our infrastructure, which it is in my view the driving engine for our future in terms of jobs, technology, the future growth of the nation. if we do not make the proper i hope vestments now in this area we are not going to get out of this recession. >> absolutely. again, congresswoman rosa delauro in studio. we will take your calls at 866-55-press. we haven't talked about the war on women but we will get into that. thursday march 29th. stay with us. >> the full court press, this is

the bill press show. >>bill press and stephanie miller, current's new morning news block. weekdays six to noon. i think its brilliant. >>current tv welcomes two new hosts. news and analysis with a washington perspective from an emmy winning insider. >>i know this stuff and i love it and i try to bring that to the show. >>and humor and politics with a west coast edge. >>politically direct means no bs, cutting through the clutter. >>bill press and stephanie miller, current's new morning news block. weekdays six to noon. ♪ ♪ [ radio announcer ] he puts up the shot for the win! ♪ ♪ [ mayhem ] it's march and it's mayhem. and if you've got cut rate insurance you could be wishing it was february.

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>>i'm a political junkie. this show is my fix. [[vo]]this former two-term governor is ...

♪ ♪ >> heard around the country. seen on current tv, this is the bill press show. >> happy thursday. thank you for starting your day with the full-court press, live from our nation's capitol and with congresswoman rosa delauro. congresswoman, i know you are a leading catholic and a practicing catholic and that sometimes you have had to tangle with the catholic bishops. mostly

most recently where they said that their number 1 priority this year is to overturn president obama's regulation or rule, whatever policy that birth control should be part of every woman's health care plan. who is right? >> let's put this in context really. the affordable care act is really transformative in terms of women's health. quite frankly, women have been second-class citizenship with regard to health care in the united states. take a look at gender rating, paying about 48% more for the same health care as men, pre-existing condition, whether it's seedomestic violence pregnancy regarded as that, so a whole variety of areas which the health care bill addressesd and, including preventative services for women.

54 million americans have taken advantage, about 21 million women. >> that's with regard to medicare, medicaid, the colonoscopies, mammograms pap tests thefts that you don't have to co-pay. so they are taking advantage of which they wouldn't vehiclehave been able to do before because of economics. you trevoransfer that to the health and human services going to the institute of medicine saying, give us your recommendation about a good package of benefits for women. including included in that package is contraception coverage. but, also dna screening for cervical cancer. well-women visits. scrupleing for hiv., counseling on breast feeding, a whole variety that says women can be healthier utilizing these preventav services. contraception isbreast feeding, a whole variety that says women can be healthier utilizing these preventav

services. contraception is -- the church is exempt. it's employees are exempt. it is not an issue of religious freedom or liberty. it is about women's health. and, in fact, but if you are affiliated with a church and a hospital, in a university you have thousands of people employed, mostly for their expertise, not their religion. you are in the employment realm. you have to deal with employment law. you would never say, we are not going to follow minimum wage dictates or workplace safety dictates. this is the very same thing. you over the opportunity for insurance coverage. >> that's what this is about. i want to say one final point. i was disappointed when the catholic bishops were willing to trash and see health care in its first incarnation fail. and that didn't happen.

we are now trying to do preventative services for women. once again, they are leading the charge to see that fail. this is about women's health. women's health should not be marginalized. women should not be humiliated. they should be respected and we ought to trust them to make the right decisions for their heart attack health care. >> i think that is loud and clear. i hope the bishops are hearing it. one quick final equipment is what disappointed me is when the paul ryan budget came out which cuts every program that would help the poor in this country, the bishops didn't say -- >> not one word. life's issues are life issues. when you are going to look at 46 million people today who are on food stamps, one out of five children in this nation is going to bed hungry, that's life. >> absolutely. congresswoman, you are great. thank you so much for coming in today. have a great break. after the break, come back and see us again. >> be happy to join. best to you. this is great. thank you. >> this is the bill press show.

the ted conference held here every year in southern california is an event designed to bring the brightest minds in the world together to share their most powerful, influential and creative ideas. the speakers share a common goal, making the world a better, smarter place through innovation, technology and the power of big ideas. in ted speaker dr. jonathan haidt's book, he argues that all human beings share a few basic moral values. caring, fairness, loyalty, respect, purity and liberty, are intrinsically important to most humans. but how those values get expressed can vary extensively

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♪ ♪ >> radio meets television: the bill press show now on current tv. >> hey it's 33 minutes after the hour. this is the full-court press: the bill press show coming to you live coast to coast from our studio here on capitol hill in washsdz washington dc. >> one of the at vantages is that we get to welcome some of our good friends from the united states congress here in the studio with us. congresswoman rosa delauro, and stepping into the studio now our

freshman senator from my home state of delaware senator chris kuhns. >> great to be with you. >> are you taking care of delaware stitcity, my hometown? >> doing the best. we just had an episode where a whole group of folks from delaware city called me and said, we want the army corps of engineer because we are upset about the bridge closew this summer. helped get somewhere from the army corps to do an out receiptreach meeting. i saw a bunch of folks who said thank you. making progress. happy about the conversation. >> you are on it. >> that's what representing delaware is all about. >> now, we talked just briefly with the congresswoman about the highway bill. and yesterday, transportation secretary ray lahood was on the program. so the senate, this is one case where the senate really did get together. >> that's right. >> in a bi-partisan way to pass a pretty good bill. >> that's right. >> the problem with the house?

>> it's a strong bill. it's a bill that will create an estimated 3 million jobs, a two-year authorization, about $109,000,000,000, a bill that actually came out of the schmidteconomy unanimously. where you have barbara boxer of california is the chair and jim inhoff as the ranking minority that the two of them could get along, let along the entire committee, let alone get it out of the senate by a vote of 74 to 22. >> that's striking. this is an impressive moment of construct constructive, bi-partisanship. we sent it over to the house. they keep changing their mind every day are they going to pass it? a five-year bill, a 1-year bill? we expect to hear that they want a 30 to 60 day extension. >> absurd? isn't it? >> as someone who was a county executive before becoming a senator. >> newcastle county delaware. >> had to put out on the street large construction projects or suers for, actually, other public interestfrastructure. if you are building highways,

primings, tunnels and you are going to hit this summer's construction sessionason, it is essential that you know how much federal money you are going to have available local budget state, munning is pal budgets can't float not knowing whether they will get the federal match and what i hear from the other chamber all the time is the importance of certainty. it's one of the things they are pounding the podium. business needs certainty. i can't think of a worst example of a failure to just simply take up a bill from the senate address it put people to work and get some certainty in our marketplace. the afl-cio has endorsed the senate transportation bill. so has the u.s. chamber of schemers. they sent a letter to every senator urging us to take up and pass the bill. i am proud we did. scalp scan commerce in the-- fund-raising this is something the house should take up and pass. >> i was going to ask about that. this is a bill. okay. i think about the construction worker workers. i think about the union workers.

i think about the jobs. right? this is also a bill that's supported by the construction company s who are -- who are taking on these contracts and these big -- building roads, fixing the bridges, repairing sewer plants. they are real jobs and republicans are pro-business. what's wrong with this picture? you have 40 or 60 dot-nothing -- this is what ray lahood called them yesterday, do-nothing republicans that john boehner can't control. >> yeah. i will remind you, you know secretary lahood is a former republican member of the house. this is just showing more clearly a number of other recent conflicts, the deep divide between the tea party freshman republicans who are against federal government, who think we shouldn't have a department of energy, department of education, who think we shouldn't have -- we took a vote on an amendment by one the tea party senators that would have essentially eliminated federal highway funding. with the entire program back to the states stop theed federal

gas tax collection and funding of interstate highways. >> theback wasn't it republican dwight eisenhower, the father of it. >> yeah. three parties, democrats republicans who think we ought to have a federal government and republicans who think we shouldn't have a federal government. that split in their party in the house is getting in the way of reasonable, responsible progress in getting people back to work making our economy more competitive, putting in place an infrastructure that makes this a stronger, more competitive, more broadly attractive country and to your point creates jobs in construction, the one sector of our economy. in the last few years during this terrible recession and now that we have a growing recovery construction has had the deepest cuts, the greatest losses in employment and the slowest recovery. this is an area where republicans and democrats in the senate agreed: we need to invest in the economy and make

the country stronger and get folks back to work. >> this is a time the best time of the year to do it, because warm weather coming across the country? >> road construction is very season seasonable. because these are public projects, they have to go out to bid, get the engineering done get the pre-work. this is a field where you have to buy heavy equipment or finance heavy equipment, assemble work crews and do pre-work. if we hit the summer construction systemeason -- and i would remind he 50% of our roads and highways are below expected safety standards and we have, i think, 70,000 failing bridges in the united states. we have a significant problem with not having invested enough in our infrastructure. we are falling behind our competitors. we are making the roads unsafe for the american people and we have got people out of work who can and should contribute to making this country stronger. why the house won't take up and pass this transportation bill is beyond me. we've got a two-week -- we've

got a two-week homework session. it's not a vacation. i go home to delaware and i am going to be going up and down the state every day. my 11-year-old daughter said to me my first recess, my recess ses ses and hers are different. there is no jungle gym. >> working hard senator chris coons in studio with us. i don't know whether you had a chance to sit in the court over the last three days, senator but do you know and sort of follow like we all did, the arguments there in front of the court how critical is this, do you think, this issue before the court? it's been called the case of the century or maybe the biggest case before the court since bush v. gore. is it important? >> i would say citizens united is in many ways the most important mistaken decision in my view of the century. the political consequences of citizens united and the speaks speaks super packs that it has

unleaped unleashed we are just now beginning to see what a toxic impact that's going to have on our campaign. >> even some republicans are starting to realize that? >> i think inevitably after this campaign season, there will be all sorts office of investigations of influence pedalling and dealing. i think it puts at risk a loss of public confidence in the connection between who con contributes to campaigns and i think it's a grave concern. let's go to the health care, three-day, that's an unusual, very long, very unusual supreme court hearing they broke it into three parts, whether or not they could reach this case, whether a tax-related prevention from the 19th century prevented them from even considering it because some of the provisions of the individual mandate have not yet kicked in. so there is no tax or penalty being imposed yet. that was probably of interest only to lawyers.

the jurisdictional questions. >> the court basically said no. >> i don't think they would have certain cert on this indicates, wouldn't have granted certiori if they didn't think they could get past it. the second day was the dedicated to the mandate, whether or not it was constitutional and third day, whether or not it was ceph rabble. if they were to say -- severable. would the rest of the law fall or could they pull it out? one of the things that is striking, i think, is that the individual mandate first proposed by conservatives in the 1980s, the heritage foundation, i think was the first sort of public policy to come out with it. it was part of several pieces he have legislation co-response orders and the '80s and '90s and central to mitt romney's state of massachusetts, the health care reform bill, only about two to four % of the american population is expected should the individual mandate be implemented to be subject to some sort of penalty or fine for refuseing to get health care.

the best way i can summarize the argument on the second day is conservative justices asked questions that essentially were if the federal government using the commerce clause can compel you to buy health insurance can they compel you to eat broccoli to work out more? >> yeah. >> to do things for your health and safety? and that seems an unreasonable intrusion into our individual liability liabilities. on the other hand -- our liberty liberties. and they were asking how is this different from social security? social socially security is an insurance program and it's mandatory. you don't have a chance about whether you buy into social security and the entire american political system and fabric has bought into social security. it is one of the most popular, the most broadly sport and the most effective programs in the entire federal government. >> and some of the same argument arguments made in and out, raised now against were raised against social security when franklin roosevelt first started.

senator chris coons in studio. we will continue our conversation about health care. i want to talk to you about your africans subcommittee and important issues you are dealing with there and find out how you are liking the united states senate so far. senator chris coons will take your calls too. join the conversation 866-55-press. happy thursday. the full court plusress. >> this is the bill press show. block. >>it's completely inappropriate for television. >>sharp tongue, quick wit and about all, politically direct. >>politically direct to me means no bs, the real thing, cutting through the clutter. my show is the most important show in the world.

>>this is outrageous! we've have no choice, we've lost our democracy here. ♪ >> heard around the country and seen on current t.v., this is the bill press show. >> politically direct. >> that's what we say on the morning show and all day long on

current tv. this is the new morning show on current tv, if you will court press. in studio with us, senator chris coons from the good state, the first state, the state of delaware. senator, before we move on to some other things, holly calling from sacramento about the transportation bill. holly, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. gentlemen yes, i would like to see the infrastructure funding to include clarity over the high cost of not having a modern and well-maintained infrastructure. the economy is more hobbled by it and the cost of addressing acute problems is higher rather than having proper maintenance. if that was part of the argument i think we would have an easier thing. >> the deferred maintenance, the longer you put it off, the more it will cost as taxpayers? >> there have been studies discussed in hearings and talked about by members of congress by national associations of civil engineers, national associations of state transportation officials that highlight the

point the caller is making which is deferred maintenance costs us a lot of money both in safety in dramatic failures that we have had of bridges that have collapsed, roads that have collapsed but, also, in terms of just you can't travel as fast as quickly when you have roads shut do you know for maintenance. we were talking about a bridge that connects the northern and southern parts of delaware over the canal and it's the closure of the reedy point bridge for long-delay long-delayed, badly needed maintenance that will badly inconvenience folks in delaware this summer. >> we haven't exhausted any topic, let alone, health care transportation, but right in front you front page showsof "the washington post" shows pope benedict meeting and talking with if i haddel castro. >> wearing a track suit. interesting juxtaposition. >> wouldn't it be great to lead

in essentially pajamas? awesome. obama in a track suit? >> maybe a too easy question is how can the pope -- how come the pope can talk to him and the united states won't after all of these years? >> it's a great question. i actually recently went on a visit to cuba with senate patrick leahy of vermont and shelby of alabama and a number of other members of congress both houses. it was a great opportunity for me. i had never been to cuba. to get to meet with cuba leaders. we met with dissidents. i got to meet with alan gross, a usid worker arrested by the cubans for bringing communication equity to the jewish community in havan a. it's an island that struggles under the u.s. economic em bargo. it has had a negative effect on the cuban people and society but it's a society that is as close to stalinist in its irestrictions on press and freedom as any i

have ever seen. we have full and open trade and diplomic diplomatic relations with vietnam. i am not clear why that wouldn't be the best way forward. the question in front of us is: what's the best path to creating a free and viberant and open cuban community. there are 400,000 cuban americans a year traveling to cuba. you can see the impact. i had notteen been before but senator lay he helay herelehey said howit was noticeable how many vehicles and european tourists. the rest of the world is active actively engaging with cuba. i think it's time for us to be in a campaign to make sure cuba becomes free and open. >> we have a minute and a half left. you have a big hearing on africa this afternoon. a lot of talk about the sudan. why aren't we doing more? >> one of the great things that's just happened is more than 120 million people, mostly

americans, have viewed a 30-minute video, the koni, my own kids two weeks ago were pressing me on the weekend, why aren't you doing more about the resistance army. i am a co sponsor of a resolution that will show bi-partisan strong support for our effort working with regional armyies in south sudan u gag galloned uganda to find joseph koni, bring him to resistance. he was the first person indicted by the international criminal court back in 2005 and i am excited to have this many americans interested in issues in africa and willing to use our influence and our resources for purely humanitarian reasons. >> is the sglunsz involved at allunited states involved at all? >> back in october the president deployed 100 special forces troops who are not directly engaged. they are providing coordination communication communications, intelligence and logistics support to africans troops. this is an african problem and

needs to be addressed and solved by african troops but we can provide critical coordination and support because of some resources and came abilityies the united states has that these regional militants do not. >> you come as a county executive, to the united states senate. you have been there three years. >> about a year and a half. >> year and a half fluvirin. >> feels cleburninglike 3. >> do you find it a places where you can get things done? >> it is very difficult to get things done. i am workeding hard to build individual relationships. i picked a few discrete issues i am working hard on. any brarder issue we find like we are taking a vote leader today, ending oil and gas projects that have enriched them. we will fail because everything is filibustered and we have difficulty getting cloture on anything partisan. >> we will try to get you some more democratic colleagues. >> that would make a huge difference. >> thank you for the job you are doing representing delaware.

thank you for coming in. >> great being with you. >> senator chris coons on the full-court press. we will be right babck. >> this is the bill press show. ♪ the chill of peppermint. the rich dark chocolate. york peppermint pattie get the sensation.

the newest voice in cable news is on the new news network. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. this former two term governor is politically direct.

♪ >> on your radio on t.v. the bill press show, new on current tv. >> three minutes now before the top of the hour. it was interesting down at the whitehouse yesterday, kind of a quiet day. the president had no events scheduled at all, no public events scheduled and there weren't even any private events on the calendar. jay carney took the day off and left his deputy josh earnest

handle the press briefing which i attended. today, president back at it, 10:00 o'clock this morning, he will receive, with the vice president, his daily briefing, and then, at 10:45, the president stepping out into the rose garden to make some remarks urging congress to vote to end the billions in taxpayer dollars handed out to oil companies every year. then jay carney will be back at the podium with a briefing schedule at 12:15. and again, representing all of you, i will be there. here in the next hour of the full-court press, steny hoyer, the democratic leader, number 2 ranking democrat after speaker nancy pelosi will join us as well as david korn washington bureau chief for mother jones has got a new book out called "showdown" "showdown." all good reasons for staying

around here at full-court press. >> this is the bill press show. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens your throat or tongue swells you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help.

♪ good morning, thursday march 29th, welcome. welcome to full-court press on the morning show on currents t.v. i am bill press. liberal and proud of it. you can start your day the liberal way here every morning with full court fres-court press as we talk the big issues here in our nation's capitol, around the country and around the globe. and todaytion, i encourage you before you do anything else if you haven't already done so, watch the video. i am talking about the video of george zimmerman, february 26th arriving at the sanford police department in the back of the

police car. all of this talk about his being bloodied up, broken nose and everything, nonsense. he gets out of the car on his own. there is no blood on his head. there are no bruises on his head. there is no blood on his shirt. you can see it clearly from the side, from the front. he has no broken nose. all that nonsense about trayvon martin beating him up is a big fat fatly. watch the video. just nullityone of the things we will talk about here one more hour of full-court press, but first, in los angeles, here is jackie schechner with the current tv news update. >> good morning, bill. that video is extraordinary. let's talk a little bit about money now. the associated press reporting this morning that president obama's re-election campaign is out spending his come petition by a lot. through february, he spents $135 million on operations. >> that's 3 million more than all of his g.o.p. competitors combined. the biggest expenses so far are payroll and fundraising.

the anticksobama operations have sphinx offices in every state, so things like computer equipment and overhead to spend money on. he has about $10 million more in cash on hand than mitt romney but romney is not that concerned. ez useraising money as a selling point and picked up big endorsements including marco rubio, a g.o.p. rising star and talked about as a possible vice presidentcial candidate. romney will be in texas picking up the endorsemented of george h.w. bush. >> talking about the rick santorum and what he has to do. the strategy is win or go home. he has got to pick up wisconsin because ethe is not going to get maryland or dc on tuesday. after that, he has to get his home state of pennsylvania on the 24th. it really is a winner or go home strategy strategy. today, he will be in california at the jelly belly company in fairfield but that primary is not even until the beginning of june. coming up next on bill press, we've got congressman steny hoy hoyer and david korn.

join us in chat current.com/billpress. we will see you there.

i think its brilliant. >>current tv welcomes two new hosts. news and analysis with a washington perspective from an emmy winning insider. >>i know this stuff and i love it and i try to bring that to the show. >>and humor and politics with a west coast edge.

>>politically direct means no bs, cutting through the clutter. >>bill press and stephanie miller, current's new morning news block. weekdays six to noon. ♪ >> broadcasting across the nation, on the radio and on current tv. this is the bill press show. >> i have seen the video. he doesn't have a broken nose. hey, hello everybody. what do you say? welcome! good morning and welcome to the full-court press: the bill press show, coming to you live coast to coast from our radio studio, t.v. studio, book factory on capitol hill in washington, d.c. taking calls at 866-55-press. good to have you with us today.

we have a lotlots and lots to talk about, and so that's why we are glad you are there. and day 4, day 4 of full-court press, very, very excited about that. very proud of that. our team here assembled ready to go, peter ogburn flying the 747. don't freak out like that jet blue castptain. >> iraq. iran. iraq. iran. >> go get them talk him. bring him down. dan henning, a little quieter here. >> i am right here. >> in studio. as well and siprian bolden, the manual behind the cameras. >> he makes us look so pretty. >> well, that's one way of saying it. >> some of us look so pretty. >> thank you for the distinction. right. and, i don't know. you know, it's been awhile since pat robertson went off on gays and lesbian s whom in the past

he has blamed for hurricanes and typhoons and tornados and lightning strikes and yesterday, he was at it again. they were talking on in thethe show, i guess he got a question about this guy who was bally all apparent purposes an upstanding citizens, married, a couple of kids and it turns out he also is gay and is out having sex with men in the evening, picking up -- pat robertson just can't stand this. >> so you are gay. you want to have the affairs with men? >> cool. you have an absolute right to do that. why not? so you are married. >> that's too bad. so your wife doesn't like it? well, tough. >> that's not the right attitude. >> no. not the right attitude. >> the attitude is that this is sip . >> i am uh-oh. >> it's wrong. >> it's wrong? >> she ought tosean realized it was

wrong, but he couldn't control it. somehow, what an amazing wife he had. dear me, what an amazing person. how forgiveing, how understanding with that type of conduct, weit was wrong. it's time in someciety we say certain things are wrong. however you look at it the man is married. he's got a child and he is out having multiple affairs with men? he is picking them up on the streets? soliz obsessed. he has a compulsion. i would think it is somehow problem related to demonic possession. >> demonic possession. all gaze and les beianslesbian s says you are possessed by the devil. last word on that knowledge. david korn, washington bureau chief for "mother jones" going to be in studio with us coming up, and we also hope to be joined by the democratic leader

steny hoyer from the united states congress. we will in just a minute but first, this is the full-court press. >> on this thursday men who drink beer have a lower risk of death after a heart attack. drink up. >> that's what a new study from harvard says. men who drank two beers a day were less likely to die from heart disease after their first heart attack. it follows 2,000 men who had heart attacks between 1986 and 2006, two coldwens per day made them 46 pes less likely to die than those who didn't drink but more than two beers a day -- >> make up your mind. i thought it was supposed to be red wine. >> that also helps but now they are saying beer is just as good. >> to make sure all basis are covered. everybody had a glass of red wine for breakfast and two beers. i am good. >> a big day for lindsay lohan. the actress heads to court today for what could be her final probation hearing to wrap up a

rough five years that started with that drunk driving arrest. the online reports, she has her next gig lined up, on the popular flocksox series, "glee". >> i think she may have personal problems. >> she is not out of trumouble. believe me. >> michele obama will appear on nickelodeon's kissto present at an award today lor swift. she is a recipient of the big help award herself. she got it two years ago for her work combatting childhood obesity. >> they will be doing judgemping jacks on the stage. 11 minutes after the hour, congress said to take a two-week working recess starting tomorrow, but there is a lot on the plate, on the docket hear about before they leave with a budget, with a highway bill another subject we want to check on the progress of that and issues with our good friend, the democratic leader of the united states house of representatives,

the honor steny hoyer. mr. leader good morning. >> hi, bill. >> good to have you back. before we get into the issues i have to tell you, i am on excited, i have been asked to join you. i don't know whether you know this on may 7th, i believe it is, for the annual big dinner of the maryland democratic party. >> you are going to be our featured speaker. we are excited. >> not as excited as i am. you will be there and martin o'malley and ben cartin. >> john edwards. >> if bill press is going to be our speaker, we need to be there. >> i havewill have to talk to you ahead of time. i have good joke material. >> we will work on it. >> now leader let's start with this highway bill. i mean what's going on? in the past, you know, this is something that democrats or republicans could always agree on. you had the afl-cio and the chamber of congress behind these bills. what's different this years?

>> what's difference is in the house. the senate, as you know, has passed a bi-partisan bill supported by all of the groups that you just mentioned and very very frankly would be, i think, adopted on the house floor if the republicans would put it on the house floor. i think the democrats would overwhelmingly vote for it and it may be namely vote-- unanimously vote for it. certainly we can get 20 or 30 republicans in the house of representatives if it were put on the floor to vote for a bill that half of the republicans in the senate supported three quarterbacks of the entire senate. >> yeah. >> supported -- an agreement between barbara boxer or arguably one of the more liberal members of the senate and jim inhoff arrest arrest arguably one of the most conservative. there is a broad expectrum of agreement. as has too often been the indicates over the 15 moyes months now, republicans in the house of representatives won't take yes, sir for an answer.

>> no. so we had secretary ray lahood whom you served with. >> a republican good guy, my friend. >> he liveswas on the show yesterday, and here is how he summed it up. i would like to play awe quick clip and see if he has it right. >> unfortunately, they have this 40 to 50 very, very conservative, do-nothing republicans who came to washington to do nothing, and that's what they have done who are holding up the bill, and so again, speaker boehner can't with his leadership get his troops together. he doesn't want to passes pass a bill with democrats because that would be embarrassing to him and he can't pass it as long as he has these 40 to 50 intrangient conservatives who do not want to do anything. >> yeah. so he lays it out there. >> i partially agree with ray on that. partially because he does have those 40 or 50. but i think that may be a larger

number, frankly, unfortunately, which is why he can't get his bill to the floor. but very frankly if it's let's say for the sake of argument ray is right it's and it's 40 to 50, that leaves 180 or 90 republicans that could join with 180 democrats and pass something overwhelmingly but speaker unfortunately, has not brought the bill to the floor. what we are going to be confronted with today is a short-term extension. now, in my view allowing the highway authorizeation to lapse on the 31st of march is not an acceptable alternative. so we need to do in my opinion, a short-term but the senate bill is really what we ought to be putting on the floor because it enjoys overwhelming bi-partisan support in the senate and you and i have seen and the country has seen how difficult it is to get agreement in the united states senate. >> on anything. >> when they have an agreement, it's broad byi-partisan agreement. half of the accurate agreed with

it. golly. we ought to be able to move this important piece for america for working people for transportation and as you pointed out, the chamber of commerce, the afl-cio and thousands of other groups are saying, pass this bill. >> isn't it -- isn't it up to the speaker? i mean to take -- >> yeah. >> theleadership here, step up to the plate and bring this bill to the floor to allow a vote and kwiecht wouldn't it be better to have a bill with democrats voting for it than no bill at all? >> absolutely, bill. as a matter of fact as a matter of fact, last thursday, a week ago with majority leader cantor he said he wants the house to be able to work its will. fine. bring the bill to the floor. see who wants to move forward in a bi-partisan way.

frankly, i have a very good relationship with the speaker. i wish he would do that. i don't understand why he won't do it because clearly, it enjoys bi-partisan support and we could pass it. >> we are talking with house democratic whip steny hoyer here on this thursday edition of the bill press show. we have seen the supreme court talking this issue moving on to another big issue of health care, we know how difficult that was to get through the congress until in the form that it's inthe supreme court rolledturned it back. >> everythingbody indicated having 50 million people without the availability of accessible affordable health care was not a good thing in this country. not only is it not good for the individuals but it's not good

for our country. we are paying for those people who don't have coverage. >> sure. >> on average, every family pays a thousand dollars, not for their own health care but for people who don't have insurance, go to a hospital. it's called uncompensated care and it's got to come from somewhere and it comes from all of us. so we tried to adopt and i think we did a system which would try to get everybody included, and as a result, the premise of insurance, if you spread the risk, you bring costs down. >> uh-huh. >> the higher the risk pool the higher the cost. so by bringing everybody in to the system we were trying to bring costs down for individuals, for families, for businesses. it hasn't gone into effect yet. we need to see whether it works the issue isnow is whether or not we can say to people at some point in time, you are going to get sick or be in an automobile

accident and have a traumatic injury or something. we are going to need the health care. everybody needs health care at some point in time in their life. and, therefore, we are going to have to, each of us take personal responsibility and have insurance. and if we can't afford it, we will help you. we will give you a subsidy to get theirat insurance because that's cheaper than having you go to an e ergmergency room to get coverage coverage we are going to have to pay for. the supreme court is hearing that as everybody in the country knows. they will decide whether or not asking people to take that personal responsibility have that insurance, so when they get sick, not if they get sick. when they get sick when something happens in their life and they need medical intervention, they will have some way to pay for it. and if that -- if the supreme court turns that down and says, no you can't do that congress then frankly, we are going to have to go back to square one and figure out how we can get

people covered. very frankly, there are a lot of things in this bill people are being advantaged by which they really like, children can't be precluded if they had asthma as kids pre-existing conditions from being excluded from getting health insurance seniors are getting prescription drugs when they had they have real tough expenses at lower costs. we made insuresure an insurance company can't say we insured you when you were well but now we are going to kick you off of our policy. people like that. they think that makes sense. so i am very hopefully the supreme court will make a determination and in fact, this is a constitutional requirement, it is a unique situation and the commerce of 234eshingamerica is affected because this is a 20% expenditure of our entire gdp, our entire wealth.

>> a lot, a lot riding on this decision today. >> sure. >> and the other thing we are doing, as you know, bill is the budget. >> yeah. >> and we are going to leave that. it's in your good hands. you have a lot of work. i don't know how you are going to get it all through and here today out of here tomorrow. >> we want to make sure we don't end the medicare guarantee and make sure we put our country on a fiscally sustainable path without savaging dmetomestic programs which average working people rely on every day. >> you get to that good work and thank you for starting off the day by joining us here on the full-court press. thank you, steny. say see you may 7th. >> this is the bill press show. is on the new news network. >>welcome to the war room. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. a former two-term governor. >>make your voice heard.

>>detremined to find solutions. >>that partnership in order to invest in our country is critical. >>driven to find the truth. >>how did romney get his groove back? >>fearless, independent and above all, politically direct.

it's completely inappropriate for television. ♪

>> this is the bill press show. >> president obama, is his pragmatism the way to get things done. david korn talks about that in " "showdown" in the next segment of the bill press show here just want to ask you that question again about from our friends at income at home.com. are you having a hard time meeting your bills at the end of the month? and need a little extra cash? the people at incomeathome.com would like to help you. these people have been rated a plus and they do business in over 80 currents trees. you can trust them. you can do it, no matter your age ourr your countryeducation, you can earn money on your own laptop from your kitchen table 24/7.

all you need is spare time and their one on one coaching to get started. so if you are sick of living paycheck to paycheck if you are worried about job security or retirement, ready to make extra money from home part-time or full-time, go to incomeathome adding listeners in my record numbers to services giving away a thousand bucks to somebody for checking them out. it could be you. visit incomeathome.com. >> that's incomeathome.com. on the trayvon martin front, the big news is a release of this video by iab readc yesterday, it's the video certain at the presidentpolice department, surveyillance video that shows george scrimerman getting out of the police car with no trouble at allzimerman getting out of the police car with no trouble at all with no signs of any a lot earn indication -- altercation, no bruises, no broken nose. the mother of trayvon martin says this tells them a lot. >> we just looked at the video,

and we were just surprised of because according to the police report, he sustained injuries, zimmerman sustained injuries, but when we looked at the video it was obvious that there were no visible injuries. there were no blood on his shirt. so we have concluded just by watching this video that there may not have been any injuries at all. >> i think this is very very significant. and it just puts to the lie all of these comments we have heard from the joe oliver, the scaliaed so-called friend of george zimmerman, trayvon martin jumped on top of him and beat his head on the sidewalk and broke his nose and he had blood all over himself. no, he didn't. and the tape proves it. the tape proves that george zimmerman, who is not only killer, but he is a big, fat lierlie liar. you can't trust anything he or his friends say in this case. david korn is coming up next. >> this is the bill press show.

>> ♪ >> heard around the country, and seen on current tv this is the bill press show. >> here we go, thursday march 29, '33 minutes after the hour coming to you live from our nation's capitol is full court press, your new morning show on current tv. wayne from texas e-mails in i have i haven't turned on the t.v. in the morning in three years. now there is something to watch that doesn't make me want to throw stuff at the television.

>> that's why we are here the full court press. i am glad you are there. good time, long-time friend david korn, now the bureau chief and has been for a couple of years now for "mother jones" magazine and author of a great new book, a lot of insight into the obama administration and particularly the decisions of the last two years. it's called "showdown." hey, david good to see you. >> great to be here bill. >> congratulations on the book thank you so. >> mother jones? >> our traffic is through the roof at mother jones.com. people still think of us as a magazine but most of what we do now, we still do the magazine, it's geared to 24/7 website. lots of news and some analysis which is the way magazines have to go to survive. right? >> right. i think we arehave got the balance right. we have a bi-monthly magazine that wins lots of awards and has magazine-style investigative journal i

journalism and the website, a day in, day out enterprise political cam pages, doing investigations, money in politics, all of that good stuff that you can see in our twitter feed, davidcorn dcdc. we have we have managed at mother jones.com to be part of the political bloodstream. >> and david is a contributor on msnbc. i see you particularly ol hardball. you focus really on after the mid-term elections. >> right. >> the book is sort of a narrative. it's a behind-the-scenes account of what's going on in the white house and in the oval office after that, you know disastrous mid-term elections for the democrats. >> so is thebasically, are you then sort of admitting the first two years were a disaster? with with. >> well, the election was a disaster. i actually think the first two years, a lot of good policy was produced. you know, you can go down the

list. problems, health care reform. but there were a lot of things, ledbetter act, stopping torture, you know revising our military post you're overseas a better foreign policy, you know better supreme court justices again and again and again. i think there is a long list of accomplishments for the obama administration, mainly a strong progressive bent to them. but as i point out in the book and sort of the opening chapter, the administration failed, and i have people in the book high in the administration officials senior officials, obama insiders concedeing they failed to win a lot of the messageing and language battleses with the republicans who managed -- and listen if you are losing fights to boehner and mcconnell, i don't know what that says about you, but the republicans managed to turn a lot of the advances and accomplishments of obama in the first two years into

political ammunition that was useful against the democrats. i asked people. >> david axelrod is named and others who are not named what went wrong? and so the answer they give is to a certain degree is we are not really sure, but we were so overwhelmed trying to save the economy and do these other things, rescue the auto industry prevent a deeper depression that we thought the accomplishments would feedspeak for themselves and we weren't able to do as sophisticated of political messageing operation as we like. i think, also, they underestimated repeatedly or several times in a row the republican ability to just say

no and say, we are not going to help you. we know there is a crisis but we are not going to do anything. there is, you know, i talk about one meeting shortly before the mid-term elections where obama is with a top outside advisor, and obama says, you know, we were so successful during campaign of 2008 driving the message -- exactly. >> why can't we do that now? >> the guy says to him william mr. president, when you were -- now, you are dealing with two wars, you are dealing with pandemic pandemics, you know, economics collapses collapse, rescueing the auto bail-out, all of these crisis. it's a lot tougher. obama said yeah, i know. but still we have to do a better job. >> he was right. i made that pointed, too. i think we have talked about this before that the obama campaign, they were 100% in terms of i had never seen a more effective message machine. they obvious britliterated the clinton message machine which was pretty

damn good. right? >> yeah. >> yet once they got in the white house, it just sort of crumbled. >> yeah. >> beigeoehner was running in swirls. >> crumbled under responsibility. >> that's not an excuse. it's an explanation. some people read this book, "showdown" and think i am trying to excuse things that went wrong. i am trying to explain what happened and how, in essence, the president tried to recover from that historic loss and set up this historic campaign of 2012. they had the lame duck session which was a total sectionuccess for the president but a lot of back and forth to theon the budget and debt seal, the president got to a strong messageing political position with the jobs bill and the payroll tax cut and everything that's come since then.

>> is it your conclusion -- we are on progressive talk radio. our viewers, our listeners, me, you, we are aubll liberals progressives. no community, there is a lot of disappointment. >> right. in president obama. he is not begun-ho for single-payer but is it your conclusion in his more progagmatic way he is more effective than if he were a flame though-throwflame-thrower. >> things an argument he would make. the people around himat's an argument he would make. the people around him would make say it he is a progressive-mind progressive-minded fellow, what his aims and goals would be for our country for our society, if you ask, they would be progressive, progressive, progressive. but when it comes to operating in the real world, he wants to be very pragmatic, and he has said he sometimes feels like he has to tap back and forth

because even though he won a decisive election, part of the country, much of the country is conservative in terms of the political culture. you have to take that into fact account. this is a guy. people ask me, you know, doing this book and talking to all of these folks around obama having access in the white house did anything surprise you? and i wouldn't call it quite a surprise. but one thing that sort of registered with me was that barak obama -- and this could be a bad thing. i am not saying it's good or bad -- really does have a long view of history, of his presidency he doesn't get buffetted by the day-to-day cable debates of the nano second that you and i get paid to engage in but more importantly, he says, this is where i want to take the country. it's like a super takenker.

you can't turn it on a dime. >> let me ask one specific thing. >> yeah. >> you and i raised this issue at the briefings as we often set alongside of each other. don't ask. don't tell. why did it take one school would say, me, why has it taken so long? why didn't he pick up the phone early on and say you can't do this any more. we are not going to implement this policy? they said we have to wait for congress to act. the fact is, he got it done. >> yeah. i am so glad you asked because i have a whole chapter and as far as i can tell in the scat "showdown," there is a lot of coverage day-to-day and in the gay media, they covered it thoroughly, but i have stuff in the book about this. and his view was: this is a tremendous cultural change for the pentagon, and if i -- i have to find a way to bring the pantgonpant pentagon along with me.

and -- >> and he did. >> he did. for very practical reasons. because if he just put out an executive order, it could be reversed by the next president. he wanted to pass a law. remember don't ask/don't tell became codified in the clinton years because he kind of screwed up the issue in the democratic congress congress reacted like passing don't ask. don't tell. he saidwanted to reverse it and make it -- he kept saying durable. he figured the way to make that happen is to get the pentagon on his side. why? because there were members of his own party, september riftcentrists who would not vote for this if the pentagon said we don't want it. he cut a secret deal with bob gates and admiral mullen then chairman of the joint chiefs of staffs early on, he brought them into the oval office and said that promise i made, and he told all of the joint chiefs this a

that promise i made to get rid of don't ask. don't tell. i am serious about it. i want you to start thinking about how this can happen. he is inheriting two wars. he wants to get out of cracking figure out how to do afghanistan in a better way. he can't come in and start a fight with the pentagon for that purpose. he also wants to make this lasting. so they spend a year kind of mulling it over. >> yeah. >> and then at the end of the year, after he does his afghanistan review, you know he puts jim messina and brings gates and mullin in and says, i want to move ahead. they say to him, we will do this with you under one condition: you let us be in charge of how it happens. and we want to do a -- we want to take nine months to do a study and start bringing our people along, too. but we will support it

publically if you let us be in charge. and so he said -- he took that deal. they testifyied. it was historic. you know, when mullin and gates in the beginning of 20 telephone10 came out and testifyied in favor of repealing the ban, now at this points, a lot of the gay right activists are saying what you just said: why is it taking so long? sign an order. there are members of congress democrats who are ready to passed passion the bill today. today, in the house and maybe in the senate. but the white house got caught in this. they made a promise to gates and mullin they wouldn't support any of these immediate efforts. they would give them the time they needed. so they got caught between -- now, behind the scenes, there were they are working with the democrats and getting the stuff passed. but publically they are not in favor of it so the gay rights groups are saying: what's going on here? >> he did get it done. showdown. that's one of the showdowns david corn talks about, the inside story of how obama fought back against boehner cantor and

we have a link for the book, "showdown," the grand bargain. was it boehner or president obama who walked away? we will get into that when we come back with david corn here on this edition, thursday edition of full-court press. ♪ >> this is the bill press show. ♪ [[vo]]cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the rest of the media seems like, "ho-hum, no big deal." we've have no choice, we've lost our democracy here. just refreshing to hear. no other television show does that. we're keeping it real.

it's completely inappropriate

for television. ♪ >> on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. >> eleven minutes before the hour, thursday march 29th, with an inside look at thedecision making inside the obama administration, how president obama gets things done in his own way.

david corn of the washington bureau chief for "mother jones" and the author of "showdown" here in the studio with us. so there was this grand bargain reached and there are two stories about who walked away. >> yeah. i go into this in great length in the book. there are -- boehner walked away twice. the first time he walked away. >> the whistle housethe white house says they walked away? they are right. >> i report this story for the first time in the book because house moderates, house moderate republicans came to him and said, hey, eric cantor is essentially ready to lead a rebeg rebellion against you if you cut a deal with the president that has tax revenues. he is calling you rino. if you go with this deal with the police departmentresident, you will probably lose your speakership. the next day he saidcalled the president and said adios. that was his bolting because he couldn't control the tea party. a week and a half late erbr. >> he had committed to obama.

right? >> well, they were pretty close to a deal. they were really pretty close. >> obama had r.n.eason to believe intairn boehner -- >> obama people believed boehner was sincere and wanted to cut the deal. about a week and a half later, he came back, this time with eric cantor by his side with terms more favorable to the republicans. but still, a deal of a similar shape. they were working on that. and at that point, some senate republicans came out with a plan, the gang of six plan that called for twice the amount of reef revenues as obama was talking to boehner about. and at that point, obama says, listen, no house democrat will vote for a plan that is half of what the senate republicans support. so they moved the goalpost. so i give you an option: you either can raise revenues to meet what is coming out of the gang of six or we can scale back the entitlements that i am offering you, and i can go either way, john. up or down. you decide. and at that point, boehner

walked away again and claimed that the president, himself, had moved the goalpost, which wasn't true. and that's the story that's come out in the last week or two in the "washington post." so the president tried really hard to strike this deal. i am not saying it was a good or bad deal but the essence of the book here, bill, is to give people, particularly progressives and liberals who watched the last year or two and have wondered what obama was thinking, what he was up to. some have been disappointed. some have been puzzled. the inform inside information they need to render a good judgment. if you don't think the tax cut deal of the lame duck section was the right deal, i think it ended up being fine and good a lot in a lot of -- good in a lot of ways. you have to read the book to be informed. you may end up thinking he gave more than he got. but, you know, i think one thing the white house hasn't done is shown the long-term thingkthinking some of the decisiveness the president has enengaged in which didn't really come out with our

day-to-day media and it's going to be up to the campaign to bring these things to the forefront and show obama is not just an equivocateor or bad, you know, negotiateor. i think in a lot of ways he has been strategically skillful but it's over the long run and you have to take a step back to see that. >> interesting that jim messina who you said was very effective is now the head of the campaign campaign manager. >> yeah. >> might have the right man in the right. >> these guys are fierce. we are running out of time but if you want more information on the book, go to my facebook page, davidcorn dc at the facebook universe. >> all right. you have got it. david corn, good to see you, my friend. thank you for coming in. the book is "showdown." you can get all of the normal places and a link on our website to help you out at the billpress billpressshow.com. thank you and i will be back with today's parting shopt.

>> on your radio, and on current tv, this is the bill press show.

it's completely inappropriate for television.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> the parting showt, with bill press: this is the bill press show. >> stephanie miller coming up next. meanwhile, my parting shot for today, thursday, march 29, three days of oral arguments are over. the supreme court has heard the obama administration argue why the affordable care act is constitution constitutional. the opposition argue why it's not. so how is the court going to rule? well, anybody that tells you the answer to that question doesn't know what they are talking about and doesn't understand how the court works.

look, given their history, we can probably conclude that scal. i ia, thomas and alito will vote against it and the others will vote for it. roberts and kennedy? who knows. the big question is: how will the courts's ruling impact the 2012 election? either way, i believe is good for president obama. certainly, if obamacare is upheld by the court, it's a huge victory for the president. but the opposite ruling could help obama because it will outrage outrage democrats and labor unions and spur them to work harder for obama's re-election. for now, as frustrating as it is, we are just going to have to wait until june to find out what happens. tomorrow here on full-court press, laura setrakian. and sandra fluke, that famous georgia university student rush limbaugh told you all about. see you tomorrow.

>> this is the bill press show. pause record pause