instream media. >>the guys in the middle class the guys in the lower end got screwed again. >>i think you know which one we're talking about. the overwhelming majority of the country says"tax the rich, don't go to war." >>just wanted to clarify that.

♪ is the "bill press show." >> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. you know, this is the "full court press" on friday. may 11. i can't understand to tell the truth why "the washington post" spent so much time on this. did they think this was going to be the next watergate? bob woodward and carl bernstein bring them out of retirement to write this thing, this big scandal on mitt romney? no, this was written actually by jason horowitz. but i don't think it is worth the front page of "the washington post." i don't think mitt romney's high school years ought to be an issue in this campaign. jerry is in mt. holly springs pennsylvania. hi jerry. >> caller: hi, bill, good morning. >> bill: good morning.

should this be a big deal? what do you think? >> caller: the incident itself maybe not. kids -- young boys are full of -- you know, vinegar and that other stuff. >> bill: got it. >> caller: but let's bring it up to date. five men that -- it came out because people witnessed it. and i think all of the other people involved were sorry about it. and it's bothered them over the years. if you read the story, the guy talking about running up against the guy that had his hair -- >> bill: he ran into him at a bar and went up to him -- >> caller: said it had always bothered him. what bothers me is that today a man like mitt romney says he can't remember this particular incident. how many were there? and why can't he just say yeah, that was a really stupid thing.

it should have never happened. i'm sorry. he half-assed apologized again. >> bill: he even said he don't remember it. joe is in joliet, illinois. hi joe. >> caller: hey bill. it is an assault. it is assault and battery. when i was a kid and i'm 63 years old and i was in school it was still assault and battery. i don't care. you got five guys on one. that's cowardice damn it. >> bill: look, joe i'm not defending what he did. i'm not saying it was the right thing to do. i'm not defending him. there are more than enough reasons. i think we ought to get past what we did in high school. everybody including mitt romney. i just don't want to go back there. don't need to go back there.

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reach here if you excuse me just a second. grabbing something from the printer because we go into -- we're going to continue to take your calls. don't worry. about mitt romney and some of the pranks he pulled in high school including maybe one that amounted to bullying, whether he should be held responsible for those. take your calls at 1-866-55-press. first we jump into the spin room. the spin room today brought to you today by wrigley orbit gum. yes, clean up that dirty mouth with orbit. eat, drink and chew orbit gum with orbit gum. and we have been talking about mitt romney. president obama coming out in support of same-sex marriage. how will this go over in black churches across the country. we wanted to ask someone from that community. she joins us this morning.

candy holmes with community church is in prince george's county, maryland. reverend holmes, thanks for joining us. >> good morning, bill. it is a pleasure to be with you. >> bill: what is the reaction, what do you hear from your fellow pastors about president obama saying i'm in support of same-sex marriage, i've evolved and now i support it? >> well, bill, what i'm hearing in the community and my own personal response to the president's declaration of support for same-sex marriage is that we are enthused. i recognize that there are still diverse thought in the community but overall we are enthused that the president has come out and made this public stance. and we're encouraged by that. >> bill: well isn't there a split in the community over that? i remember here in washington, d.c. when the debate was in front of the city council, the lead opposition

were leaders of the black church, particularly from anacostia who said this is anti-god antibible antichristian and should never happen. >> again, bill, what i would like to share is there is a diversity of thought and like the president, many are on their journey to a more full understanding and more complete understanding that these -- the right of marriage and same-sex marriage is for all americans. and that protection under the law is for all. so while there are some that are still evolving, there are many in the community in the religious community in the black church that have evolved and are there with the president. >> bill: yeah, that's comforting to hear. those people -- i've heard several political analysts, reverend holmes, say this may help president obama with the

gay and lesbian community but it is really going to hurt him politically, we're talking. it is going to hurt him in the african-american community. he's going to lose votes in the african-american community over this issue. this one issue. do you buy that? >> no, bill, i don't buy that at all. actually, i think it is a bit irresponsible to paint the black church as this antigay monolith. i don't believe that's true. i know of many clergy and denominations where the lgbt community are accepted, are welcomed just as we are. so i believe that even beyond the church where we have faith leaders and other denominations beyond the black church and in the hispanic communities and figures in the world of sports, entertainment and even politics that support marriage equality. so the black church, while we

might be of diverse thought we are united with president obama i believe. i don't think it will take away. >> bill: again the reverend candy holmes is our guest on our news line this morning. you can reach her and follow her at mcc -- make sure i get enough cs. mccchurch.org. finally, reverend, is it fair to call marriage equality as a lot of people do a civil rights issue? do you find that that kind of takes away from the great civil rights movement? >> well, bill, as an african-american and as a lesbian and someone who is married to the love of my life, i don't believe that that is taking away from civil rights. i believe it supports civil rights. i believe it supports human rights for all people. so not at all. >> bill: exactly. hey, reverend holmes, thank you for your leadership on this

issue. i'm so glad we had a chance to speak to you just to put the record straight that there are people like you, leaders in the black churches who stand with the president on this and have -- helping some of your fellow pastors men and women evolve on the issue. thanks so much reverend. >> thank you. >> bill: good to talk to you. we go back to the issue we were talking about here -- we've been talking about through the first part of this hour. "the washington post" making a big deal about some pranks that mitt romney apparently guilty of when he was in high school. one particular they say is troubling, going after a high school student who later came out as a gay man and tackling him -- after he had bleached his hair, tackling him and clipping his hair saying this shouldn't be allowed on campus. some people are trying to make a

big deal of this. my own view is we all did stupid things in high school. maybe even made fun of some fellow students that we thought might be gay. let's be honest about it. it wasn't the right thing to do then. but let's judge mitt romney on his policy failures today. not on what he did in high school. no? wayne from schaumburg, illinois. what do you say wayne? >> caller: good morning, bill. here's a question i've been wanting to ask you for awhile. >> bill: uh-oh. go ahead. >> caller: i know that you have a degree in theology and you did a lot of studying of a lot of different religions. and you also did a lot of studying about the old testament with the proverbs of the old testament, correct? >> bill: right. >> caller: my question is like most people have a favorite proverb or favorite story in the old testament. did you have one? >> bill: well, i don't know about so much about the favorite

prophets. my favorite story in the old testament is in the book of genesis and the fact that we're given a responsibility that's very clear in genesis 2, we're given a responsibility to love and to care and to be good stewards of this planet. i love reading that story and the message. >> caller: actually, my real question is do you think any of those proverbs in the old testament would have -- if two men walked up to one of those proverbs and said would you marry us, do you think one of those prophets would have married those two men? >> bill: probably not at the time. but i think to use the president's phrase i think we've evolved certainly since then. you know, at the time, most of those prophets probably had a couple of hundred wives wayne. >> caller: any of the prophets in the new testament, do you think they would have married

two men? >> bill: well, the only prophet in the new testament is jesus christ himself. i don't know where that question is from. >> caller: people like peter and john, the prophet wrote revelations. >> bill: i guess what you're saying is you are against same-sex marriage. is that what you're saying, wayne? >> caller: yes. >> bill: okay. you are and i think you're wrong. we're not debating same-sex marriage. we're talking about what mitt romney did when he was in high school. kathy is calling from orland park illinois. >> caller: good morning, bill. how are you? >> bill: i'm good. >> caller: i would like to offer a different perspective. i'm a classroom teacher for over 30 years and i really, really become upset when you keep referring to this as a prank. i have seen bully behavior start from kindergarten, on. when you're in the same school for so many years you see these children progress. bully behavior is not something that is just a one-time prank.

it becomes part of their character. and you try to stop it. you call the parents in. and sometimes you talk to a parent who comes in and will say oh, now i get it. now i see why your child behaves this way. i just feel when you see this progression of behavior, these children repeat it. they repeat it. and honestly, it stems into high school and i feel it follows them into adulthood. >> bill: here's where i'm coming from, kathy. look, i remember by the way i remember being beat up as a kid. i remember being, if you want, nobody called it that then, bullying, but being a victim of that. and if i thought about it, i could probably remember some times when i was the one doing the bullying, not getting bullied, if you will. so i'm not defending that. the question i'm raising is whether whatever mitt romney did in high school that he really should be judged today as a candidate for president by something he might have done in

high school. i don't think so. i think there are more than enough reasons. i don't want to be judged by what i did in high school so i don't want a double standard here. i think there are more than enough reasons to vote against mitt romney today. 100 reasons. >> caller: i agree. >> bill: so i just don't want to talk about what obama did when he was 6 years old eating dog. making a big issue of that. that's ridiculous. i think it is just as ridiculous to make an issue of what mitt romney did in high school and i know everybody so far -- i told you i was going to let you down once in awhile. today may be the day. 1-866-55-press. if you want to bully me, pile up on me, beat the crap out of me. >> can i shave your head? >> bill: you want to cut my hair, today's the day. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv. this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 12 minutes to go before the top of the hour. the head of the export import bank, the xm bank, fred hochberg joins us in studio at the top of the next hour and we are taking your calls about the latest mitt romney's high school pranks could go too far is the headline in this morning's "washington post." first, you know, it is that time of the year, that time of the year when do you your spring cleaning, you look around the house at what might need some

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blinds.com have prices that absolutely crush home improvement prices blinds.com. again, that's blinds.com. blinds.com. back to the phones here to -- is that karla? caria in orange, new jersey. >> caller: hi, good morning. i'm calling because i don't -- i think you're right for the wrong reasons. >> bill: that's a nice way of putting it. go ahead. >> caller: i agree with you that what he did in high school doesn't matter but what he does today matters. >> bill: yes. >> caller: he had the opportunity to really stand up against bullying and to say what i did was wrong and what i did shouldn't have happened but instead, he's like hee he, we all did stuff. rather than taking the opportunity to show compassion and understanding and to show how much he's learned he's like whatever, it doesn't matter.

>> bill: well, caria we've learned that about mitt romney. that's a valid point. he doesn't have any backbone, any core convictions. when he was asked about rush limbaugh calling her a slut. he said those weren't the words i would use. he's never really manned up on any issue. he didn't on this one either. weak apology. >> caller: right. >> bill: on that point, i think you're absolutely right. that's who he is today. don calling from carmel, california. what do you say, don? >> caller: don't you love this area? >> bill: i do indeed. i haven't been there in too long. >> caller: come on, bill. have you here. >> bill: your congressman is one of my best friends sam farr. we hang out together a lot. >> caller: very cool. we love you, bill. i'm a former bully you know. i hate to admit it but i was a

bully in junior high and high school. i would take danny's lunch and i would bully him. i didn't know what i was doing when i was a kid but you know, now i'm a very compassionate person but i hear the story about romney and that he says he doesn't remember. i remember every single bullying act i did. >> bill: that's the part of it that you can't believe when he says i don't remember that. he cut his hair. you would remember it. >> caller: when i first came on stage, especially recently, there was a connection. i just knew the guy was a jerk. was a bully. and he's not the person i would like to have leading this nation. >> bill: right. nor i don. i appreciate that. nor i for all of the reasons that he's wrong on policies

today. not because of something he did in high school. jill, last call from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. hi, jill, good morning. >> caller: good morning. bill, listen, i think that when you give mitt romney a pass on this kind of stuff it is not fair to the president. every time the president says something, does something they have all kinds of -- they make a big deal out of it. it's not fair to the president. >> bill: i agree. i've said that all the time. i said it again this morning. i didn't think it was fair to talk about what he did eating dog. i don't think it is fair to talk about the letters he wrote to his girlfriends. i don't want them going after obama's high school years or mitt romney's. >> caller: the republicans.-- we give them a pass on this stuff. we should get a backbone. we should not allow them to get away with this kind of stuff. >> bill: well, i hear ya, jill but i have to tell you my rule

of life is not to be like them. i think we should conduct ourselves better thanthese yahoo! republicans. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

you've heard bill's views, now let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today. >>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now. >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey on mitt romney, paul larson says, a good friend of mine in denver, refers to

romney as our money. just moves a couple of letters around there. i think this is hilarious and accurately describes him. we should all call romney r money. dan says hey bill, i cannot thank you enough for giving the coverage to the fact that same-sex marriage is not the end of the world. my partner and i have been together for 18 years and have done nothing to upset the heterosexual community. they also have adopted six kids. good for them. setting a great example. mary walker says hey bill, the lgbt community has never never insisted that the government be run so everybody has to live by their lifestyle unlike what some others do. absolutely right. keep those e-mails and facebook and twitter comments coming. we'll be back with fred hochberg.

>> bill: hello, everybody. a big friday morning friday may 11. welcome to the "full court press." i'm bill press, liberal and proud of it. and proud to bring you the only progressive morning show anywhere on cable television. lots to talk about today including the fact that as we've been talking about the first hour, "the washington post" is out today with a front page story about all the pranks that mitt romney committed when he was a high school student. but is that really fair? i mean come on, admit it.

we all did stupid things when we were in high school. i think there are enough reasons to vote against mitt romney today for his policies today without having to go back to his high school pranks. no? just one of the things we'll continue to talk about here on today's "full court press." but first, we go out to los angeles and get this current tv news update from a good friend, jacki schechner. hi jacki. >> good morning, bill. good morning everyone. mitt romney is trying to change the subject from his high school behavior and the economy to jobs. his schedule may make that difficult. he will be campaigning in north carolina today, the state that just passed amendment one that would ban same-sex partnerships. tomorrow he will give the commencement speech at liberty university which is the nation's largest evangelical university. as romney has been forced to talk about gay marriage, he's reiterated his stance he does not believe it in or civil unions either however he has said that he does believe that

same sex partners should be allowed to adopt children and enjoy other domestic partner benefits if the states so decide. if romney were successful in turning the conversation around and talking more about the economy, he may get some traction. the latest apgfk poll shows 52% of americans disapprove of the president's handling of the economy and 65% disapprove of his handling of gas prices even though we know it is international markets that affect gas prices and not the president. there is a new video out today from the milwaukee journal sentinel showing scott walker had every intention of taking down organized labor earlier than he did so. it is a video of him speaking to a wealthy donor in january of 2011 and she asks about wisconsin becoming a right to work state. >> any chance we'll ever get to be a completely work state? >> we're going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employees. >> the video was taken by a

documentarian. walker introduced his legislation to destroy collective bargaining just a month later. it set off massive protests and now walker faces a recall election june 5th. we'll be right back.

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how can my car go faster? maybe your child will figure it out. find out more at connectamillionminds.com >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama visits george clooney last night and he walks away with $12 million. what do you say? who says movie stars can't deliver? hello, everybody. good morning. good to see you today. this is the "full court press" and we're coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours on your local progressive talk radio station and of course now also on current tv. thank you so much for joining us. we've got lots to talk about this hour and something very important to talk about right at the top of the hour.

that's america's trade policy and the export import bank. and in studio with us, the president of the emism bank, fred hochberg. mr. president, how are you? >> bill: i'm good. we've known each other a long time. it is kind of you to come in studio. >> it is great to be here. >> bill: we have our team, whole team here. peter ogborn, i think you've met. dan henning and our videographer cyprian bowlding. >> mr. president, do you have change for a $5? i need to hit the vending machine and all i have is a $5 bill. >> bill: you have to go to an atm. >> any money here, we have to pay back. we're a bank. we lend money. we don't give money. we don't make change. >> bill: we don't like that. i'll tell you you're just starting the day fred so you may not know what the weather outlook is for today. we've got it for you brought to you by prince charles himself

who stopped at a bbc station yesterday in scotland and went right on the air. >> well, it is an unsettled picture as we head toward the end of the week. this afternoon it will be cold, wet and wind withy across most of scotland. we're under the influence of low pressure and this weather front pushing north bringing clouds and breaks of rain. the rain, of course will be heaviest over the borders and edinburgh. it could lead to difficult -- >> i'm going to stick to banking and exports. >> we'll lean on you for the traffic report. >> you're in a bad spot. i don't have a car. >> bill: traffic and weather on the 8s brought to you by prince charles. so fred is here for the first half hour of this hour. then we'll be following christopher buckley with a new book out, a funny writer, about his 35th book. i've read them all. in the next hour congresswoman donna edwards joining us as

well. we'll get right to ex-im bank but first. >> on this friday, other headlines making news, while 150 hollywood types spent about $40,000 each to party with president obama at george clooney's house last night there were two people that didn't quite fit in but were happy to be there. a new jersey science teacher named beth and a mom from florida named karen butcher. they were the winners of obama's campaign contest to attend that suar ray. all they had to do was donate a minimum of $3 and they were entered for their chance to win an all expenses paid. >> bill: that's is like winning the lottery. >> party at george clooney's house. >> bill: were they more excited to see clooney or the president? >> i can answer that question. >> an embarrassing time for boston red sox pitcher josh beckett. he was booed off the field when pulled after just two and a half innings of bad pitching last night and he was heckled by fans at fenway for what he did last

week. he was pulled from the line-up because of an injured shoulder on the day he was then pulled, he was spotted playing golf. it is not the first questionable decision he's made. last season, he was one of those pitchers who ate fried chicken and drank beer in the clubhouse when they weren't playing. >> bill: doesn't sound like he's going to be around long. >> finally, american consumers' favorite fast food chains do not match up with those who have the best sales according to a new harris interactive survey. a lot of people are seeking healthier options as the poll shows the favorite fast food place for the year is subway but number two dairy queen likely for its ice cream followed by wendy's and five guys. >> for the blizzards! >> i'm sorry. >> bill: is chipotle on the list? >> not on the top five. >> bill: we have chipotle coming in down the street. >> they're really good. and healthy, i think. >> i wouldn't go that far.

>> healthier. >> bill: they don't call it heart attack grill. so let's start out -- i must admit, i know you and i've heard about the ex-im bank. another friend of mine once wanted to be the head of it. i never understood what it does. what it is its purpose? >> it was started by franklin dell nor roosevelt. it was created to create jobs here at home. it understands the difficulty when a company is trying to sell products overseas to get credit or make sure they'll get paid by their customer. that's why ex-im bank was started in the '30s. we've been in business almost 80 years. we help companies large and small. in fact, i think most people don't realize close to 90% 87% of our customers were small businesses defined by the small business administration. i mean many of them are very

small. and what we do for them is we do one of three things. if they need a working capital loan, need money to buy inventory, take care of their receivables, we can work with their local bank, guarantee 90% of the loans, they can get a working capital loan. why? because banks are nervous if you're selling overseas, what if you don't get paid. we do working capital loans. two, a company in baltimore right near, when he's selling his products to singapore just sold a $10,000 order we insure that receivable. if for some reason the customer in singapore doesn't pay, we'll make good on it and collect from that customer. i say i'm in the sleep business. let them sleep well. give them peace of mind. he can't afford -- hire a lawyer to go out to singapore to collect that. the last piece is, probably the most of our volume is where we guarantee loans to a foreign buyer so that they can buy u.s.

goods. so an easy example is satellites. u.s. makes satellites right here near washington. orbital right up by dulles. they compete with two or three french companies. they're both competing to sell satellites in the middle east, latin america, places like that. we'll make sure they'll get the financing. the your queens make sure the -- the europeans make sure they have the financing. we leverage the playing field. >> bill: are these companies could they do this without -- this affects the government subsidies. >> the reason i say they're not subsidies. there is no taxpayer money. we get a fee from the customer to give them a guarantee on this loan. and the tricky thing is certain countries are just hard to finance. we do loans in bangladesh,

ethiopia. there are tough places to borrow money from banks or you got products that are hard. satellites are not the easiest thing to finance because how do you collect on them if someone defaults or airplanes or locomotives or power plants. some things are just inherently very hard to finance. some countries are very hard to finance into. sometimes you've got products going into really difficult areas. >> bill: you really are a bank specializes in companies that want to sell american-made products overseas? and thereby, most importantly creating jobs here at home. we create or sustained last year more than 1,000 jobs every single working day. 1,000 jobs every single working day. creating and sometimes sustain because sometimes customer has already been in the export business but needs that. there is a little company we work with in texas called air tractor in a small town called only texas. it has two traffic lights and a dairy queen like we talked about

this morning. well, they've got about 200 employees. 270 employees. they make crop dusters. they sell these crop dusters all over the world. this year for the first time, more than half their sales are export sales. and we're helping them sell those products to farmers in argentina and brazil and latin america. i gotta tell you bill, things aren't lining up -- banks aren't lining up six deep to lend money to banks in argentina. we make sure he has the financing for his customers so that he can sell those and compete against foreign competition. >> bill: now i googled you last night. >> uh-oh. >> bill: they point out some of the big loan recipients according to google, boeing, g.e. caterpillar. why does boeing need your help? >> we're not lending money to boeing or g.e. we lend money to boeing's customers or g.e.'s customers.

when boeing is selling as we were talking about airplanes to bangladesh or airplanes to ethiopia, we're competing against airbus. airbus would like to make the sale and put all of the jobs in france. i would rather it be in south carolina and everett washington. we're making sure when that airline, ethiopia airlines makes a decision which airplane to buy that boeing has the same financing package that they can present to ethiopia that airbus is presenting to ethiopia and by the way ethiopia is going to be one -- the launch customer in south africa for the 787. >> bill: is that right? >> just parked at the washington national airport the last couple of days. >> bill: i didn't know that one could fly into washington national. the house voted 330 -- so your charter expires may 31, correct? >> yes. >> bill: the house voted 330-93 to renew your charter only until the end of 2014.

couple of questions about that. first of all why just -- why such a short time, that's all you get out of the house? >> we asked for four years. president obama asked for four-year authorization to 2015 to give our customers give exporters some certainty. many people have said the problem with the american economy is people don't have certainty about the economy. we're trying to add certainty. you've heard it. i've heard it. we try to give the full four years. compromised a three-year re-authorization taking us through september 30, 2014. >> bill: all 93 no votes were republican members of the house who really wanted to kill the ex-im bank. if you're creating jobs, helping american businesses, helping keep our trade -- trade deficit low, i guess and improve trade what are they up to? what was their argument for wanting to kill it? >> bill, some people believe there is no role for government in the economy.

they really believe that there is this sort of pioneer spirit that people should just go out and do business and be unfettered by the government. frankly, government does have a role. president obama has made it very clear. the national export initiative. export import bank and a number of things. there are trade distorting practices around the world. there are countries that don't play by the rules. so what we're trying to do is make sure when there's needed support, when you need the financing to close the deal, we want to be there. but let's be clear. 98% of exports are all supported by the private sector. we support about 2% but last year in colombia -- >> bill: but that's an important 2%. >> in colombia we supported a third of all exports that went to colombia. almost 20% of exports to india and turkey. so in key markets we make a significant difference and impact. >> bill: now this goes to the senate, all right, you need to get the votes in the senate before may 31.

how are you looking in the senate? >> last night, senator reed called for a vote, they need 60 votes to put the issue forward so it can actually go for an up-down vote. we're looking forward to that next week. ideally, an up vote, not the down vote. >> bill: the cloture vote will be next week. we've been talking about that a lot with the student loan things and others where you have to get the 60, the virtual filibuster in order to debate it on the floor. >> exactly. >> bill: what do people do who want to support? >> i can never lobby. that would be wrong and illegal. you can lobby. but people who have concerns should express those concerns. this helps because it informs people about what we do and tries to debunk the things we don't do. we're not a subsidy. we don't cost the taxpayers money. in fact, in the last five years, we've generated close to $2

billion in excess funds over the fees we collect that go to the treasury to reduce the deficit. >> bill: you're making money. >> we're making money. >> bill: a rare government -- fred hochberg is the president of the export import bank. i want to be sure that people know the ex-im. >> not the radio station. >> bill: that's right. exim.gov where you can find out more about it. if you have a question or a comment, 1-866-55-press. maybe you're one of those small businesses looking for a loan. here's your chance. we'll be right back. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." day. >>the controversy has gone viral. >>how many are being sacrificed? >>see "the greater good" on current tv. >>and while you watch, join the

live chat at current.com/greatergood. >>our system is not working. >>there are always some risks. >>i don't think it's that back and white. the science is not there. >>only on current tv.

we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block.

ess show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour. fred hochberg who is the president of the export import bank here in studio with us. fred, couple of calls and a couple of questions came in about twitter i want to get to. but first you are one of the highest ranking certainly members of the obama administration. what did it mean to have the lgbt to have president obama come out in support of same-sex marriage? >> i thought the president's comments really were quite moving and the fact the president does not frequently talk about his two daughters and his wife in a setting like that and i think this was a very

personal decision for the president. he talked about his two daughters and coming home from school and the kind of conversations they had at the dinner table. so i think that this is very -- came across to me and i think many people i spoke to as very heartfelt and very right from the heart. this was not a political statement as much as a personal statement. >> bill: the timing of it, you think was important? >> well, you know, the timing of it. these things come out when they come out. the president had an interview and it came up in an interview and i think that you know, it is impossible to time these things out in a perfect way. i think the president had an interview. the president had said he was evolving. he was moving on this thing. i think that these are conversations he had at the dinner table. this is a place where no one else is in the room. no advisors, no assistants. no pollsters. but his wife and two daughters. >> bill: did you ever talk to

him about the issue? >> we did not speak specifically about this. we talked about lgbt rights before. and i've had many interactions with the president. when i have time, i'm trying to focus on the exports and increasing jobs because that's the reason he's brought me into the administration, not to be an advisor but to help the national export initiative and create more jobs in this country. >> bill: on that issue, a question from -- via twitter from one of our viewers collateral. what kind of collateral do you demand or seek? >> we look at -- one of the things we look at when we make a transaction to explain to viewers, we'll look at an export and if it's a power plant to use an example or say it is a wind farm, we'll take the collateral. we'll take the actual equipment and we'll also take -- sometimes we'll take the actual contract. fees come in when you produce the electricity we'll put a lien on that feed-in tariff.

we'll take collateral to make sure we get paid back. we'll structure a transaction in a way to make sure we protect the taxpayer first and foremost and increase the exports and the jobs from that transaction. >> bill: finally, we have an -- is it important that we have one because other companies have things like this? do they? other countries. >> there are about 60 export import banks around the world. around the world. some of the most active ones are china where i just came back from last week. brazil has a very active one. so we have to really have one to make sure we level the playing field so we've got american companies competing. they've got the kind of backing that these foreign companies have. japan or wherever. >> bill: with that, we're out of time, fred hochberg who is the head of the export import bank. you can't lobby but we will to try to make sure the senate votes the right way next week. >> thank you bill. >> announcer: this is the "bill

press show." lieutenant governor of california, and former mayor of san francisco is coming to current tv. >>every night on cable news networks everyone's focusing on what's wrong. i want this show to move past that. i love creative people, and with all the vexing problems we have we need creative thinking. >>(narrator) with interviews with notables from silicon valley, hollywood, and beyond. >>at the end of the day this show's simple. it's about ideas. ideas are the best politics. ideas can bring us together. >>(narrator) the gavin newsom show. premiers friday may 18th. only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: it is 33 minutes after the hour now here on a beautiful friday. in our nation's capital. friday, may 11. good to see you today and thank you so much for joining us. christopher buckley is the author of -- what is it now? 103 books? >> 147. yes, i'm going to break isaac asimov's record. he wrote over 1,000, didn't he? >> bill: did he really? >> something like that.

i've got a ways to go but you know, i hope he's looking over his shoulder because i'm coming up fast. >> bill: very gifted, very prolific and funny writer and a good friend in studio with us here and christopher congratulations on your latest book. "they eat puppies don't they." >> indeed. >> bill: i want you to hold on one second here. >> okay. are you about to produce a -- >> bill: what i brought in with me. this canvas. >> this is terrifying. >> bill: first of all, i have the latest book. >> i think we should hold this up for the camera. >> bill: christopher buckley. "they eat puppies don't they." i want you to know i have a copy -- >> is that a first edition? i hear those were going for well over $24 now. >> bill: this is the first edition. "no way to treat a first lady." >> bill: this is a first

edition of "boones day." >> show how the hole in the cover works. very clever. >> bill: this is a wonderful book. i really, really loved. "losing mum and pup." >> i was thinner then and i had more hair at age 10 than i do now. >> bill: and this is -- maybe your second book right? the white house myth. >> i'm very impressed. that was my first novel. second book. first novel. >> bill: i'm a christopher buckley fan. >> but you're also a t. c. boyle fan. you collect his first editions. >> bill: good for you. >> you told me that. nothing escapes up here. >> bill: two living authors that i collect are t. c. boyle and christopher buckley. so you wrote this before the world knew that president obama ate puppies as a little boy. >> if you look at the

acknowledgements page in the back you'll asee that it is dated june 21, 2011. i crossed the last t dotted the last i. >> bill: it takes a long time to get a book out. as we know. >> it is a bit of an antiquited industry -- antiquated industry, books. but the publisher wanted to hold it until this may. which last june seemed like a long way off by my math. 11 months. and every time china was in the news, in the last year, i would start to chafe and twitch and call them up and say gosh -- they said no, we'll keep it as a may book. it came out this week. and two weeks ago our commander in chief introduced the subject of canine cuisine. >> bill: at the white house correspondents' dinner.

>> so i'm very grateful to the president for putting his shoulder behind my book tour. it was very considerate of him. >> bill: i've read all of the others. i just cracked this a little bit. knew you were coming in today. once again you have a washington lobbyist. you like the capital -- >> the washington lobbyists. they're reliable rascals. and they -- you know, they make for fun characters. this one's a defense lobbyist and he is tasked with trying to get a new weapons program through the congress. but the congress is actually, in the book anyway, the congress is concerned about spending so right away, you know it is fiction, right? [ laughter ] >> bill: exactly. >> so his boss tells him -- asks -- tasks him with

thomenting chinese sentiment to increase this program. he says to him -- bird mcentire says it is time to put the red back in red china. and so bird thinks okay, how do you do this? it is tricky. fomenting antichinese sentiment because we rely on them to fund our budget. >> bill: it is very topical in many ways. i'm not sure where -- i could find out here. what order of the book is but thank you for smoking which was made into a very fun movie where i remember you played a role standing in a metro station reading the newspaper as i recall. >> it was my -- i think my biggest role, bill in film. standing -- >> bill: wasn't it you standing on the form of a metro.

>> cleveland park metro stop. it is not a speaking part. >> bill: no. >> but i open a newspaper and sort of shake my head. i think it is a pretty brilliant bit of acting. >> bill: how many takes? >> may i say one take. >> bill: oh, that's impressive. >> could lawrence olivier make the same claim? hack actors compared. >> bill: have any of the other books, movie deals been floated? >> there are about four of -- about four of these as they say are in development. >> bill: oh, really? >> would you like a translation of in development? >> bill: yes. >> it means none of them will ever be made into a movie. [ laughter ] a couple of years ago, my agent called -- >> bill: it is a phrase you hear a lot in hollywood. >> here is another phrase you hear. a couple of years ago my agent called and says i have amazing news. i said tell me, tell me. does this involve money?

charlize theron has been attached to florence of arabia. >> bill: by the way i couldn't find all of them. >> you're forgiven. it is early in the morning. i know back home in your den there is an even bigger stack of my books. i said what does -- what does it mean that charlize theron is attached? and there was this pause. well, she's attached. i said does that mean they've stapled her to the script? and glued her? [ laughter ] it is a very funny business which is why i am just going to -- >> bill: what does it mean? does it mean she has agreed -- >> it means nothing. it means she has -- one of her people said to one of my people oh, she loves it. she wants -- she's attached.

>> bill: it doesn't mean she put down a million dollars to get it. >> no, there's attaching and there's attaching. hope springs eternally. it is a very tricky process. having watched thank you for smoking get turned into a movie mel gibson actually owned the rights to "thank you for smoking" for 12 years until he was arrested for driving while anti-semitic and these two young guys came along and actually wanted to make "thank you for smoking" and had a devil of a time just getting the rights away. >> bill: christopher buckley our guest in studio. i'm sure you don't often have a chance on most television shows to ask a question. you do on this one because we're both radio and tv. if you want to join the conversation, we have a seat for you at the table. right there. give us a call at

1-866-55-press. you know that i was very fond of your father. he was a guest on crossfire. >> quite a few times. >> bill: he was. i was nervous as hell. >> you should have been. >> bill: william buckley jr. but he always treated me well. i loved having him on. his wit and wisdom. >> he was a good guy too. >> bill: what would he think of today's tea party republicans? >> well, that's a tricky question, bill. it's tough channeling your father's ghost. hamlet tried it. didn't work out very well. i'm loathed to try to second guess. he did -- he died in 2008. sometime in the year before he

died, i think he was asked you know, what he thought of the current state of the conservative movement and he used a term that only william f. buckley would have used. he said that he thought that it was in need of repriss tinnation. [ laughter ] which i'm sure set many people scurrying to their dictionary. bill it would send me scurrying to a dictionary! >> it was kind of nice. i think he was -- he -- when the iraq war started to go very badly in about 2004-2005, he was asked what he thought of that. and he said well if this were a parliamentarian system like england the president probably

would have to resign. and that sent a little shock wave out. it reminded me a little bit in its own way of walter cronkite's reaction after the tet offensive. as a matter of fact, i think someone said well, we've lost buckley on -- lbj said it. we've lost walter. i think he was a respected -- my father was a respected person. his views were taken seriously. >> bill: very much so. i'm not the expert but i did write a book called "train wreck" about what has happened to the conservative movement today and if you go back to your father's position of what conservatism is all about, the founder of the modern conservative movement, it has really veered away from his brand of conservatism.

we better take a break. >> we better take a break. i'll hold that thought. >> bill: please. [ laughter ] >> bill: christopher buckley his new book is just out just out. "they eat puppies." don't they? no, it is not about eating dog. just a good spy story. we'll be right back and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." and there's only one place you'll find us.

>>the gavin newsom show is a search engine for solutions, and that's the focus. we want to focus on solutions and ways of bringing people together. that's the only way we're going to solve the world's great vexing problems. >> announcer: on your radio, on

tv, the "bill press show," new on current tv. >> bill: it is 12 minutes now before the top of the hour. congresswoman donna edwards will be joining us in studio in the next hour and bob cusak will be here as a friend of bill for the entire hour. bob cusack, managing editor of the hill newspaper. christopher buckley his new book called "they eat puppies don't they." this is seriously how many? >> this is number 15. >> bill: that's incredible. i'm only up to six. >> you've got some catching up to do. >> bill: i do. >> you didn't come and sit in a radio and tv studio for three hours every morning, you would be on your ninth by now. >> bill: could be. would you care to weigh in on the big controversy in washington today which is really -- it has nothing to do with same-sex marriage or nothing to do with immigration. it is whether or not the white

house correspondents' dinner is worthy of our profession anymore. you know tom brokaw, a one-man war -- >> i saw that. i was kind of wondering when someone was going to say that. i came to washington before you were born, bill, in 1981. and it was rather different then. i remember someone bob mary, editor of the congressional quarterly, the guy with a very wry sense of humor bob. he was talking about how it used to be at the white house correspondents' dinner. he said i remember being thrilled when i saw peter lisigor go by. peter is a name many of your listeners would not recognize. >> bill: he was ap.

>> he was a reporter's reporter. >> bill: a veteran reporter. >> in those days, it was really -- it was about washington-based journalists and politicians. and then my late, dear friend michael kelly who is editor of the atlantic, great journalist, killed in the early days of the invasion in baghdad. very sadly. but he mischievously invited fawn hall. >> bill: that's when it started. holly north's shredder. >> quite an attractive shredder as shredders go. [ laughter ] she was the one who smuggled a lot of ollie's -- at least the papers that didn't get shredded, she smuggled them out of the white house in her panties do you remember? >> bill: i forgot that.

>> she looked a bit like farrah fawcett. very glamorous. and michael kelly invited her to be the guest. it was the new republic he was at or whatever he was then editing. it became this sort of competitive thing and if you could get a guest who was you know, slightly notorious, that was even better. >> bill: the next year, someone invited paula jones. >> yeah. >> bill: or maybe -- very shortly afterwards. >> you can't accuse us of not being a class act. >> bill: so this year it was kim kardashian and lindsay lohan who were -- they're the ones that you're thrilled to see walking by. >> that might have been the brokaw tipping point. [ laughter ] i believe tom said that -- what did he say?

that it had come to epitomize the reason people hate the press? >> bill: the schmoozing. >> well, i wonder if next year there will be -- no, no, these things don't change. this train left the station a long time ago. >> bill: i think so. >> unlikely to change. >> bill: i don't see how you can put -- genie -- i don't see how you can put this back in the bottle. >> i don't think so. i mean it is a fun evening. my late and very beloved friend christopher hitchens who died last december in the early '90s in the first year of the clinton administration, you remember this, started to give an after -- the after party. >> bill: the best party of -- i took jerry brown to his party. >> do you remember it was in his apartment at the wyoming.

and you would walk in and it was -- it was just sort of wall to wall bold-faced names but it was fun and intimate. then it got to big -- so big they had to move it ironically across the street to the russian trade federation. >> bill: hold that thought too. take another quick break and we'll come right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." planned parenthood. anna talked to a conservative and it got a little contentious. drama, when we return.

eliot spitzer joins the new news network. >>we don't stop until we get answers that are truthful, serious and not based on simplistic answers. >> announcer: radio meets

television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: wrapping up here this hour and president obama spending a night in los angeles. he takes off today for reno, nevada to give a jobs speech in reno and back in washington, d.c. christopher buckley has been our guest this hour. one 30-second pitch for your new book "they eat puppies." >> well, bill, i don't think there's ever been a book quite so brilliant or reasonably-priced as "they ate puppies, don't they"? this is a book for the ages i think. >> bill: you can just hear the amazon arrow going up, up, up on that point. christopher buckley, good to see you. thanks so much for coming in. congratulations. >> thanks. >> bill: fun read. we'll be back with congresswoman donna edwards and bob cusack.

s" on this friday, may 11th. good to see you today. it is a very busy day in our nation's capital. that's where you'll find us right here on capitol hill. bringing you the big stories of the day from our nation's capital, around the country and around the globe. and how about this. mitt romney, not only disagrees with president obama on same-sex marriage but mitt romney now agrees -- a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex

marriage. that's right. he wants to amend the united states constitution to allow people to practice discrimination. hmm. i wonder while he's amending the constitution if he wants us to go back to segregation too you know, while we're at it. what bad news of the one of the things we'll talk about. first, we've gotta get all of the latest. here with the latest, today's current tv news update from los angeles, jacki schechner. hi, jacki, good morning. >> good morning, everyone. as the president heads to reno, nevada today national public radio is taking a look at the presidential campaigns and the work they're doing to court the latino vote. president obama won nevada by 12 points in 2008 due in large part to taking 3/4 of the latino vote there. npr reporting more than 2 million latinos have turned 18 since the last election and now make up more than 20% of the electorate in nevada. the obama campaign has released its second wave of spanish language ads in radio and

television spotlighting the president's record on healthcare reform and how that has helped the hispanic population. it features supporters of president obama telling their personal stories. while the rnc tells npr they have stepped up their efforts by hiring hispanic outreach directors in six states, the republican strategy seems to be shift the conversation from immigration to jobs and the economy whenever they can. just last weekend also at the nevada g.o.p. state convention, delegates voted against printing campaign materials in both english and spanish saying they just wanted them in english alone. in other news, it is now the defense's turn to plead its case in the john edwards corruption trial. the prosecution wrapped up on thursday. never calling rielle hunter to the stand. they did however, talk to about the hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds that edwards and his mistress supposedly used to hide their affair and their daughter they had together. the defense team will argue it was andrew young, his aide who used the money and that in and

of itself was not a violation of campaign finance laws. we'll be right back after the break.

>>(narrator) gavin newsom, lieutenant governor of california, and former mayor of san francisco is coming to current tv. >>every night on cable news networks everyone's focusing on what's wrong. i want this show to move past that. i love creative people, and with all the vexing problems we have we need creative thinking. >>(narrator) with interviews with notables from silicon valley, hollywood, and beyond. >>at the end of the day this show's simple. it's about ideas. ideas are the best politics. ideas can bring us together. >>(narrator) the gavin newsom show. premiers friday

may 18th. only on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey hello everybody! president obama stopping by george clooney's house yesterday. clooney was so glad to see him he gave him $12 million. he didn't exactly give him $12 million but they raised $12 million at the fund-raiser last night. night well spent in hollywood. good morning, everybody. good to see you. it is friday, may 11th. this is the "full court press." we're coming to you live from our nation's capital and bringing you up to date on all of the big stories of the day.

with the help this hour in studio of the managing editor of the hill newspaper, you want to know what's going on in washington, d.c. on capitol hill or at the white house, you go to the hill managing editor bob cusack. >> good morning. honor to be a cohost. do i get a special hat or something? >> bill: friend of bill. >> we have a few hats around here. >> we'll get you something. >> bill: if you really wanted one. or a mug. >> we'll find something. >> i think we have some divot fixers. >> i need those, actually. >> bill: peter ogborn and dan henning and cyprian bowlding our regular team here. it seems bob that the presidential contest this year may be decided by who is best -- who has the best voice, you know. we've heard president obama with his al green. yesterday it was mitt romney.

♪ oh beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain ♪ ♪ for purple mountains majesty ♪ >> a little pitchy though. >> bill: he's gotta work on it. ♪ above the fruited plain ♪ >> that's my favorite part. ♪ america ♪ >> oh! ♪ god shed his grace on thee. >> i didn't know it was possible for someone to sing exactly how they looked. >> bill: off-key? >> i have never, ever been in so much pain to hear someone sing. >> that was harsh. >> bill: it was harsh. so neil cavuto on fox news yesterday asked romney whether he was ready to challenge president obama to a singoff and romney said well maybe i could challenge him to something else. >> a singoff, you know. i don't think i'll play the president a round of golf but i'll be happy to take him to a

water ski course. we have different skills and different interests and different hobbies. i must admit my kids and my grandkids are my hobby and consume a lot of my interests and attention. >> bill: he's so out of it. >> a little awkward i guess. >> an archery duo. >> you want to play a round of golf? >> i have a better idea. let's go water skiing. let's have a water skiing competition. >> that brings back memories of windsurfing. >> oh, yeah, hadn't thought about that. >> bill: bob cusack again in studio with us. as a friend of bill, we'll be joined by congresswoman donna edwards a little bit later. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> on this friday, other headlines making news, one actress now speaking out in defense of the white house correspondents' dinner after tom brokaw went wild on it. rosario dawson said she wants to be clear celebrities aren't

crashing the dinner, they're invited guests. they accept the invitation from the correspondents and the media companies who invite them. she also pointed out that many of the celebrities there participate in the civic process and help bring light to many important issues. >> she's a good example. >> bill: that's the point. newspapers and the magazines and the tv companies invite these bow zos. >> she's an example of someone who speaks out on political issues. she's very outspoken. it wouldn't necessarily be crazy for her to be there. >> bill: we talk about clooney. lindsay lohan on the other hand? embarrassing. >> a day after we learned that michele bachmann was a swiss citizen, today we learn the congresswoman is no longer a swiss citizen. the republican released a statement yesterday saying she asked to withdraw her citizenship which was granted back in march. she's dropping it because she wants to make it clear she was born in america and is proud to

be an american. >> bill: this is why she dropped out because this is marcus bachmann yodeling. her husband. and she heard him yodel for one day and she said that's it! that's it! and -- >> bill: stop just a second right there. can you imagine this woman just ran for president of the united states. what was she thinking to become a swiss citizen? >> that's why politics is so great. you have these kind of stories come out of nowhere and you're like what? >> bill: everybody said what were you doing? she said that was dumb, wasn't it? one day later, she is a swiss citizen. >> what is actually weirder is that we just got the story that herman cain is now an official of citizen of ubequi for one day. >> if there's one thing the democrats are ready for ahead of this summer's convention in charlotte, it is north carolina barbecue. the hill reporting this morning that the convention host

committee has settled on official barbecue sauces for the convention after testing 30 different entries. >> bill: oh, my god. >> in three categories were chosen for the best mustard vinegar and tomato-based sauces. they all come from local carolina. >> hang on. i have to take a stand here as a native south carolinian. if they serve mustard-based barbecue sauce in north carolina, i will boycott! that is a south carolina -- the north carolina barbecue is the vinegar, they dump the vinegar all over it and ruin it. south carolina is the mustard-based barbecue sauce. >> i would go to 12 bones in asheville. >> there you go. >> bill: didn't they have that blueberry? >> blueberry chipotle i believe it was. >> charlotte is not known for barbecue. north carolina has some good barbecue. charlotte not so much. >> have a good weekend. >> thank you. yes, indeed. >> bill: makes me hungry thinking about the

north carolina barbecue. so bob the house and senate back in session this week. >> yes. >> not today. >> bill: for three days. >> exactly. >> bill: not like they got a lot done. >> not a lot done. a lot of rhetoric on student loans. john boehner moving a bill in the house that would replace the sequester. house republicans not abiding by the debt deal that they struck last year. they want to replace this -- the defense cuts with other cuts, obviously democrats not big fans of that. >> bill: right. before we get into this, i do want to ask you about this. the front page of "the washington post" this morning, we talked about this a little bit earlier in our show. mitt romney's pranks could go too far. it's all about pranks that they did this big investigative journalism piece. his prep school out in michigan, cranbrook school. and apparently he was quite the

jokester, quite the wild guy. and a couple of pranks that might even come close to what today we would call bullying where one they talk about they came back from a spring break or something, one of his classmates had -- who later came out as a gay man, at the time was not openly gay. but he had died his hair bleach blonde and let it grow really long. and mitt romney says we can't have this on campus. he rounded up some guys. they tackled him and mitt romney takes out some scissors and clips his hair. not something you would be proud of. but what is -- why would "the washington post" make such a big thing about something that people did in high school? mitt romney did in high school? >> when you run for president it is a silly season. i think one of the questions that reporters want to know is what makes romney tick? what is this guy about? and now obviously republicans yesterday questioning the timing

of the story right after president obama endorsed same-sex marriage and then you have this and romney obviously had to address it. he's going to have to address i think some things that are serious and sometimes very silly because in high school, we all did things that we aren't fond of looking back. >> bill: is it going too far to say that maybe we should give everybody a pass for things they did in high school? i wouldn't want to be judged on what i did in high school. i did some stupid things. i thought they were funny at the time. >> no, that's true. i do think though when you're president, it is an open book. you're volunteering for the job. >> bill: you're running for it. >> you are going to -- every bit -- everything you've done, old girlfriends, everything whether that's fair or not is an open question. but romney, i think, has to do a better job of dealing with with this stuff. he says he doesn't remember that episode. that doesn't pass muster. you have to say listen, i remember it just like george w. bush said when i was young and stupid, i was young and stupid.

>> bill: that was a good answer. when i was young an stupid, i did some young and stupid things. boom. i think everybody understands that. for romney, it sort of reminded me with rush limbaugh, the sandra thing, he said those aren't the words i would have chosen. >> he has to deal with things in a straightforward manner. and just like this week when romney, there was someone who on the campaign trail said that president obama should be tried for treason he did not take that woman on. later on, he said i don't agree with that but john mccain when confronted with a similar situation did. so these are tests of mitt romney and he's going to have to get better at this if he's going to beat barack obama. >> bill: yeah. you mean in a water skiing contest? [ laughter ] >> exactly. >> bill: let's go back to this pretty -- well, on the same-sex marriage, since we're sort -- it is sort of related. i don't buy it.

some people are saying well, president obama came out for same-sex marriage and mitt romney bullied this closeted gay student. that shows -- i think there's plenty today in mitt romney's policies to show the contrast with president obama. is this stand that the president took this week going to prove to be a major issue do you believe in this presidential election? >> i don't. i don't think it is going to be. i think that in a month or so, we're not going to be talking about this issue. obviously it is a big issue. >> bill: does romney want to talk about it? >> i don't think so. i don't think house republicans or senate republicans want to talk about social issues. they want to talk about the economy. anything that distracts them from that is something that gets them off message. >> bill: there will be some people in their constituency, particularly the evangelicals, right -- >> definitely. >> bill: who want to make this a major issue and a major contrast between -- even ed gillespie yesterday said that mitt romney is going to run on a

constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. that puts it front and center. >> it does. and the fact that they're doubling down on that, i think that if you talk to some republicans on capitol hill, that's a mistake. they should not be talking about that. and now, is it going to fire up aspects of the base of the republican base of what president obama did? absolutely. >> bill: john boehner is one of those. yesterday. asked about this of course at his news conference. he was asked, i don't know, maybe 100 times to comment and each time this is the answer he gave. >> president can talk about all he wants. i'm going to stay focused on what the american people want us to stay focused on and that's jobs. >> bill: he didn't want to go there. >> if you interview john boehner, you've gotta bring a lot of questions because he doesn't filibuster. he will give you one or two-word answers. he doesn't. to talk about something, he won't talk about it. that shows a deafness really from boehner's perspective we have not seen from romney.

and so boehner is an experienced politician. he's not going to go down that road. >> bill: right. in the senate this week, they did bring one thing up for a cloture vote. not a vote but the cloture vote meaning republicans filibustered it. that was the student loan. and every republican -- i think except olympia snowe voted and she voted present. every republican voted not to bring this measure to the floor which would have kept student loans at 3.4% and not allow them to double on july 1. what are they thinking? >> well you know the way they would pay for it would be to close the tax loophole that would break the grover norquist pledge. >> bill: oh, god forbid! violate the constitution? [ laughter ] >> i was at the press conference the senate democrat press conference of the week. usually harry reid by himself. this time it was dick durbin and

patty murray. they're bringing out the leaders to highlight this issue. dick durbin made the point not one republican supported this motion. i think that's a shot at scott brown because scott brown has broken with his leaders. they want to win back that seat. they don't agree. on the other hand house republicans want to move this even though the paul ryan budget did not call for that. kept the student loans at the 6.8% that they would jump to on july 1. they shifted, john boehner shifted because he saw the tide turning. they have a different -- to go after the healthcare law. is this going to get them? they have to find ow to pay for it. talking about june 30th, in the middle of the election season, maybe it doesn't get done. >> bill: i find it hard to believe number one that they would vote as they did and for the ryan budget. that would double the current rate. but secondly, that they would insist that it is more fair to

take money -- to cancel preventive care programs in the health bill. right. colonoscopies, mammograms, whatever to remove those take the funding away from those rather than close the tax loophole for billionaires. that choice alone to me is suicidal. >> john boehner says it has nothing to do with women's health. he's poo-pooing the fact of what it would do. when they can target the healthcare law with anything that's what they're doing. >> bill: congress made a deal they would have a joint committee and if the joint committee failed, the super committee, is that what they call it? >> the supercommittee. bill they would have cuts. are they going to get away with that. we'll talk to cusack about that and take your calls here at 1-866-55-press on the friday edition of the "full court press." we'll be right back. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill

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>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. congresswoman donna edwards from the state of maryland in studio with us in the next segment. and with me and bob cusack who is here as a friend of bill, managing editor of the hill newspaper. i guess when it comes to the budget, at least a deal is not a deal on capitol hill with these

republicans. they voted this week to blow that deal apart. >> yes, they did. >> bill: so backing up the supercommittee failed. the sequester came in. $1.3 trillion. >> bill: 50% domestic. 50% pentagon. >> republicans had to choose back then is the sequester going to be defense cuts or increase to taxes? they chose defense cuts. now fast forward they're trying to get those tax cuts out of there. so democrats are saying anything bill that republicans move that don't adhere to the debt deal and the white house has said, too, we're going to veto that, any of those bills. >> bill: president has made it clear. >> the thing is that some of the appropriations bills, when and if they get done, republicans are going to have to compromise at that point. for now they're not. >> bill: so did -- did

republicans just come to the conclusion that they had made a mistake in agreeing to these pentagon cuts or were they not sincere when they made the deal in the first place? >> honestly, i think it comes down to votes that when paul ryan put the budget together that spelled out caps, they needed the votes. they knew they would not get any democratic votes so a lot of the armed services republicans said listen, you can't have those defense cuts in there, in your budget. i'm not going to vote for it. so in a way their hand was forced because on the other side of the cap mitch mcconnell has not adopted the ryan budget. he has said you know, a deal is a deal. has not said that publicly. in his moves he indicated that. >> bill: he's going to stick maybe to what they agreed to. >> exactly. >> bill: so much to talk about. and so much time and so little being done on capitol hill. we'll find out when we come back, bob if donna edwards has any hope of getting things done in the house. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. it is a beautiful friday morning here in our nation's capital. hope it is wherever you happen to be. it is the "full court press," the only progressive morning show anywhere on cable television. coming to you on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. we're joined in studio by a dynamic member of congress representing maryland's fourth congressional district, the honorable donna edwards congresswoman, nice to see you. >> great to see you, too. always good to be able to claim being a progressive without

apologizing. >> bill: no apologies here. joining us again still in studio is a friend of bill this hour, bob cusack, the managing editor for the hill. you see these guys from the hill running around all the time badgering you for comments and -- >> writing really good inside stuff. i love it! >> it is a lot of fun. >> bill: bob is there doing his job and so are the people that represent the hill on the hill. so congresswoman president obama coming out this week saying i've been thinking about it a long time. i've talked to my wife about it and my daughters about it and i've decided, i do believe that same-sex couples should have the right to get married. did he do the right thing? >> i think he did. i think it took a lot of courage and some political risk, too. i know in my district, majority african-american district, it took me some time to get there too.

it is a real struggle in those communities but i think it was the right thing to do. anything that kind of moves the ball forward when it comes to talking about civil rights for all americans i think is a good thing and the president showed the leadership to do it. is there a downside for him in the black churches? >> i don't think so. number one, black voters are very sophisticated. they're not single issue voters and while this may raise a concern for a lot of black families and people in congregations, i think what it does is it redoubles our effort to work on getting the vote out because there are so many other things that we care about maintaining our homes getting through a struggling economy making sure that we have jobs and opportunities for our young people. i think all of us recognize that president obama represents that opportunity. >> i just want to follow up on that. as far as do you think that president obama should have gone

further because some progressives note there's no policy behind here. that this is the first president to back same-sex marriage but there's an executive order that he could have signed for the federal government that he has not sign and he's deferring to the states on this. should he have gone back some policy beyond saying this is a personal view? >> look, here the president has taken one of the most courageous moves that any president has ever taken. and you know of course, he's willing to take the hits for not going far enough. i think what the president did is he said from the position of the oval office that it should be the position of all of us as americans that no matter who you are and no matter how you're situated, you deserve the same rights and i think the courts are going to go beyond that. i think the public is moving. what the president did was offer the kind of leadership that would open so many of us up to rethinking our own views about these issues and he demonstrated

in his own struggle in getting from here to there that this is not easy. it is complicated. i think for somebody like me who grew up in a home with a mom and a dad who were married and i always believed that marriage was between a man and a woman. and. >> bill: we all did. >> this is not easy. it is very complex. and i think the president has helped to open the door for many of us to get from here to there in the way he did. >> bill: i was just -- pardon me for turning the pages of this new york times this morning but there was an article here that caught my attention this morning. i was going to ask you if you were there. apparently -- here it is. one of -- a republican member of congress from georgia, paul broun of georgia introduced an amendment that would have taken the money away from the justice departments' enforcement of the voting rights act. this is no longer a priority.

should no longer be a priority. taxpayer dollars should not be spent enforcing the voting rights act and john lewis came up to the floor and really, really blistered him. >> i wasn't there but i came up afterwards. i hugged john lewis because they think that he demonstrated yet again what a powerful leader and voice he is for civil rights and for voting rights and his colleague from georgia and i know dr. broun this is just the most ridiculous thing ever. i think he was taken aback by -- >> bill: by john lewis' -- >> he withdrew the amendment. it was a very powerful moment. >> bill: powerful and emotional moment where john lewis said people died for the right to vote. he said it was hard and difficult and almost unbelievable that any member, especially a member from the state of georgia would offer this amendment.

and he so humiliated and embarrassed i guess dr. broun that he said okay, i'll withdraw the amendment. >> i was also moved by dan lundgren from california who also came to the floor and acknowledged that he had worked on the voting rights act and the amendment since then just a few years ago. and he too was perplexed by why in the world anyone would think to take away the responsibility of the department of justice to make sure that all of our voting rights are in force. so sometimes a little humiliation is good for politics >> democrats wouldn't have minded voting on that. the other republicans would have fallen on the amendment. >> bill: maybe he should have thought about that. mike, we were talking earlier congresswoman, about michele bachmann becoming a swiss citizen for one day. she became a swiss citizen. she got so much criticism that she withdrew the next day.

so she was a citizen for one day. >> you know, sort of another really amazing moment, silly silly, silly. >> bill: but on a more serious note before you came down, bob and i were talking about this sequester and this idea that having the supercommittee having failed because they couldn't agree to any new tax revenues, we had to accept this draconian deal of these budget cuts, 50% domestic and 50% from the military and now republicans want to -- they voted actually, about to break that deal this week. >> absolutely. absolutely. paul ryan budget also breaks the deal that they struck last summer. >> bill: going to get away with it in? >> they got away with it in the house. i think smarter heads will prevail. can you imagine you come up with a deal where you say well, we're going to come up with some solutions or it is going to be 50/50 split with the defense

cuts. what they do is try to basically undo the deal. this is typical of the g.o.p., undo the deal. that you agreed to and then ramp up defense spending. cut meals on wheels and then call that good for the american public. and also put -- increase tax cuts for the wealthiest americans so they haven't actually dealt with the real problem and if the problem is debt and deficit the deal that they got sure doesn't deal with that. >> bill: what are the programs that would be cut if not the military, do we know? if it is not the military then -- >> food stamps is a big part of that. that would be cut. that actually has been a target of both parties a couple of years ago. democrats did cut food stamps as part of a teacher aid bill. this would go further and cut a lot more. but that is a main program that they would cut in this package. >> bill: so just to get the logic out, right we're winding down the war in afghanistan.

we're ending the war in iraq. and we're upping the military budget. >> increasing defense spending. this is -- even you know, leaders in the defense department have agreed we have to bring down spending. maybe not at some of the levels as in the sequester but that's the whole point to get us to a place where we actually look reasonably and fairly overall at the budget but you don't do that by taking away meals on wheels for seniors and for people who have disabilities and cutting food stamps and school nutrition programs for you know, we want them to learn but we want to send them to school hungry and then keep them in school hungry? this is really outrageous and healthcare programs, children's health insurance 300,000 children would lose their effectively lose their health insurance under this plan. >> bill: i saw a statement yesterday by steve israel who is

head of the democratic congressional campaign committee who said he was not predicting that democrats will take back the house. but it's like -- he sees theú possibility. he was expressing hope. you had an event this week that i was invited to, red to blue, right? >> that's right. i cochair the red to blue program which is our program to look at states held by republicans and then take them back for democrats. not just because we want power and i think you know, chairman israel is right. we want to make sure that we can take back the house because we can see in the budget mess that we've dealt with this week how important it is, i think the american people for working people for middle income americans that democrats have control of the gavel and i think there is a real opportunity to do it but we've gotta work hard. >> bill: how many districts are you targeting? red to turn to blue? >> targeting. the deficit is 25 seats. and so that is a minimum.

but we also are running great candidates and you know, dozens of seats all across the country. and you know we've got 80 districts at least where we've got really strong democratic candidates. one in the state of maryland. john delaney. that's another one of those districts. we're counting on to make sure we take the district in order to regain the congress. >> congressman in 2006, democrats had a list of the things they were going to do when they took over the house. and they did in 2006. and it was called six. are democrats going to have a similar type of contract per se of what they would do should they win back the house like you guys had in 2006? >> well, we know what we're fighting for. this is really clear. the lines are so clearly drawn and this is a different environment from 2006. we have a different economy. we want to sort of do -- things that we've talked about that we

can't get done in this congress like invest in our nation's infrastructure so we can put people back to work and rebuild for the 21st century. mr. hoyer talks all the time about making it an america so that americans can make it an america. that means rebuilding our infrastructure so we create jobs and opportunities for the century, investing in education. we've laid the ground work for that with president obama, with democrats in control of the house and we can do so much more. so i'm looking forward to it. i wasn't here in 2006. i'm looking forward to making sure we can do that same thing. >> it will be 13 and 13. >> bill: it is the "full court press." donna edwards bob cusack from the hill and all of you on the "full court press" here. again, we're crowded here but we'll find room for you at the table if you want to give us a call at 1-866-55-press.

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>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: back to our conversation with congresswoman donna edwards and mike cusack. if you're one of those people who needs extra money at the end of the month, check out income at home.com. you've heard me talk about them. they're america's leading work from home business doing

business in over 80 countries. this is something you could do. no matter your age education or experience. you can literally earn money on your own laptop from your own kitchen table 24/7. all you sneed a little spare time and some one on one coaching that you'll get from people at work at home.com. if you're sick of working paycheck to paycheck, ready to make extra money from home part-time or full time check them out. income at home.com. they're giving away $1,000 to somebody today just for checking them out. that could be you! so check in at income at home.com. that's incomeathome.com. we were talking before you got here congresswoman about student loans. is this thing ever going to resolve itself or are republicans just going to say we don't give a damn. double the interest rates. we're out of college.

what do we care? >> i think that a lot of -- a lot of members republicans and democrats are hearing in their congressional districts from students who are just coming out of high school and preparing their financial package to go to school and they're going to school. they want to see us resolve this. they're hearing from those students and more importantly, they're hearing from their parents about this doubling of interest rates going from 3.4% to 6.8%. it will almost make college completely unaffordable for so many people so we have to do something about it. i hope students all across the country are calling going into the congressional offices in the district and that they're having their parents do the same thing and they're saying for us, this is an election year issue. >> are you seeing presidential politics play here because house republicans did not favor this in the ryan budget. they did for the call for the rates to stay at 3.4%. mitt romney says i support this

issue. i want to keep the rates and then john boehner schedules a quick vote and it passes. democrats didn't like the pay fors in it. but are you seeing the presidential politics play on capitol hill right now? >> we are but the reality is you have already described the republicans don't want this. and so it isn't as though they were arguing for keeping student loan interest rates at 3.4%. i mean it is a policy matter. they were not. it was a political matter, they've put something on the table that they know has unacceptable ways to pay for it. but it doesn't deal with the issue. for democrats, this is really core. we have over and over again protected student loans protected interest rates and made certain that we protect pell grants. something else that the republicans want to slash and burn. and so for our students out there and for their parents the republican party is not a fan of

students and education. >> bill: it is also pretty apparent, bob, to your point it seems to me that the president going around the country appearing on these college campuses, he's really turned the heat up on the republican -- >> i think that had a major effect. that's why republicans, they knew that they were on the defensive. they said okay, let's shift. >> bill: so they said okay we can't be against this. we have to be for it. but we're not going to raise taxes on the millionaires to pay for it. we'll take preventive healthcare away from average americans to pay for it. >> go yet again, women. you do it again, please? not only are you going to take aware their education because so many women take advantage of student loans but you're going to take away their preventive healthcare. >> bill: congresswoman donna edwards, great to see you. you're welcome any time. thank you for all you're doing. bob cusack great to have you in as a friend of bill. >> always a pleasure bill. >> bill: the hill.com. check it out. i'll be back. we do every day.

i'll be back with our parting shot for today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ah, claim trouble. [ dennis ] you should just switch to allstate, and get their new claim satisfaction guarantee. hey, he's right man. [ dennis ] only allstate puts their money where their mouth is. yup. [ dennis ] claim service so good, it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can always count on them. unlike randy over there. that's one dumb dude. ♪ ♪ the new claim satisfaction guarantee. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block.

>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, and on this friday, may 11, my parting shot for today, were you a perfect student in high school? well now we know mitt romney wasn't but you know what? neither was i. "the washington post" out with a front page story this morning about mitt romney, some of the pranks he carried out at cranbrook exclusive private school out in michigan including taunting tackling and cutting the hair of one closeted gay

classmate. now, you know me. i'm no fan of mitt romney's but on this one, i give him a pass. i would hate to see any of us judged on the stupid things that we did in high school. mitt romney should no more be held responsible for what he did in high school than barack obama should be held responsible for what he did as a 6-year-old in indonesia. look, all you need to know about mitt romney is he wants to give millionaires another tax cut. he's anti-women's rights, anti-gay rights and he wants to end medicare and social security and he wants to continue the wars in iraq and afghanistan. hey, that's reason enough to vote against him in november. leave his high school record out of it. that's my parting shot for today, folks. what do you say we go into the weekend happy mother's day and enjoy the weekend! make the most of it. come back here and see us on television and on the radio on monday.