[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it is thursday, may 23rd. off and running with the "full court press" this thursday morning, coming to you live, of course, on current tv, from our studio, from capitol hill here in washington, d.c. with our eye on what's going on, here in washington, around the country and around the globe bringing it all to you and hmm pardon me, not awake yet? taking your calls at

1-866-55-press. giving. >> chance to comment on twitter. we want to hear from you on twitter at bp show and we love having you as our friend on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. very important speech today. president obama speaking at the national defense university where he will outline a new policy on the american use of drones. we will be limiting the use of drones particularly against americans overseas. the president's going to announce he is also transferring main responsibility for drones from the c.i.a. to the pentagon where they belong and ending strikes of drones against groups of people where so many civilian deaths have occurred. this of course, comes one day after attorney general eric holder told congress we have killed four americans overseas with drones. back here at home, michele bachmann, as always, has the answer to problems with the i.r.s. her answer is to abolish the

i.r.s. and then everybody will just pay their taxes voluntary. of course, they will. what an idiot. find out more on current tv. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) 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. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. when i first felt the diabetic nerve pain, of course i had no idea what it was. i felt like my feet were going to sleep. it progressed from there to burning... to like 1,000 bees that were just stinging my feet. [ female announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone.

it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. having less pain is -- it's a wonderful feeling. [ female announcer ] ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain.

cenk off air alright in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks! i think the number 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. they know that i'm not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know i'm going to be the first one to call them out. cenk on air>> what's unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. cenk off air i don't want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they can't buy our politics anymore. cenk off air and they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts! narrator uniquely progressive and always topical the worlds largest online news show is on current tv.

cenk off air and i think the audience gets, "this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us." only on current tv! >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: michele bachmann says let's abolish the i.r.s. and we'll all pay our taxes voluntary. sure we will. what an idiot. good morning everybody. are we surprised? what do you say? it is thursday. a big thursday, may 23. one day before the memorial day weekend begins. and we can't wait!

celebration starts here today with our wrap-up of the news of the day and your chance to comment on what's going on, whether it's continuing just actually the beginning of the recovery efforts out in oklahoma. chris christie weighing in saying yeah, they may not have given aid to us but we should give aid to the residents of oklahoma. good for him. it is not time here for political payback. and here in washington, d.c., president obama set to give a major, major speech, a big speech about drones today at the national defense university. john kerry arriving in the middle east again for i think his fourth visit since he's been secretary of state. with reportedly a plan to get peace talks started between the palestinians and the israelis. so a lot going on. we want to give you a chance to sound off about it. you know these issues are

important to you. we want to know what you think about them at 1-866-55-press. our toll free number. on twitter at bpshow. give us your comments and become our friend on facebook if you're not already and if you're not already, why the hell not? befriend on facebook then give us your comments on facebook.com/billpressshow. it is a team effort here and the team is peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey hey hey. >> bill, good morning. >> bill: with alichia cruz got the phones covered waiting for your calls and cyprian bowlding has us look good on current tv. >> here we are. >> bill: you know, one invitation i get to the white house a lot almost every day i get there for the briefings not necessarily for the fun events. one invitation i wish i could have snagged was an invitation to the east room of the white house where the president joined others in honoring carole king receiving the library of king

gershwin award for popular song. the president says this is a woman who has done it all. >> obama: to date, carolo has written more than 400 compositions resulting in over 100 hits. she's done everything from doo wop to pop. >> bill: incred, incredible record that she's left behind. many many, many favorite songs of hers, for me. and tricia yearwood performed one of my all-time favorites. ♪ doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore ♪ ♪ this would be so fine to see your face at my door ♪ ♪ and it doesn't help to know you're so far away ♪

>> bill: little romantic memory there. i met carol my wife, in the mccarthy for president headquarters in san francisco where i was in charge of the office and she came in as a volunteer and i made sure that she stayed around the office volunteering every day from then on and what was always playing was that carole king album over and over. >> cool. how cool. >> bill: that brings back memories of those days in san francisco. and by the way that -- the duet she does with james taylor on that album the two of them singing that. oh, god! >> he was there too last night. he was there and billy joel was there, too. >> bill: when you go to heaven you hear carole king and james taylor sing together.

oh god, they're so good. we're going to be talking to john fuglesang our good friend from current tv a little bit later this hour. and two outstanding leaders in congress. got them both here today. congressman chris van hollen, top ranking democrat on the budget committee and steny hoyer, the number two democrat in the united states congress will both be along. and president obama about to unveil today a new policy on drones. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> on this thursday, some other stuff to think about as you head out the door. tiger woods tweeted his reaction to sergio garcia's comment this week that he would feed woods fried chicken if he had him over for dinner. woods said the comment was inappropriate and hurtful and he's confident there is real regret that sergio made the remark and a third in a series of tweets, tiger said it is time to move on and talk about golf.

certainlyio did apologize yesterday in an impromptu press conference with the golf channel saying he feels sick about what he said and hopes that we can move on. >> bill: come on, bury the hatchet. pull out the 5 iron and get back to work here. >> i do kind of like the fact there is competition in golf but -- >> bill: i also like the fact that not everybody sucks up to tiger. come on. but racist remarks -- >> it has gone too far. >> another day another celebrity on capitol hill. yesterday, it was the cookie monster. the "sesame street" character joins lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on making care packages for the u.s.o. to send to military families overseas. everyone was in a good mood during the bipartisan effort, probably because there were plenty of cookies on hand to eat. >> cookies and toilet paper is what was going into the care packages among other items for

military families. >> troops need them. >> matt damon has received some big-name support for his so-called toilet strike. he said a few months ago he would not go to the bathroom until everyone in the whorled access to clean water. bono richard branson and olivia wilde have joined on to his water.org campaign. new funny psa released yesterday, so far, water.org has helped get clean water and sanitation to over one million people worldwide since they've started. but that is out of 780 million who do not have access to it. >> bill: wait a minute. i want to back up. he's not doing what? >> he said he's not going to go to the bathroom until everybody has access. that's the theme of the campaign. >> bill: this is a boycott i would rather not join or be around anybody who's in it. >> don't really see how that works. >> bill: i know how the body works. ridable louse. -- ridiculous.

i like the us could but i don't think anyone can take it seriously if that's your pledge, you know. not eating candy? >> not getting married until everyone can? >> bill: or not having a hole in one until everybody's had one? >> the important causes. >> bill: yeah. let's talk about this drone speech today. drones. first of all it started yesterday when attorney general eric holder, we talked about this before. i think this is one of the most serious policy challenges facing the united states right now because we have been engaged in a wholesale campaign using drones i think recklessly and without any real guiding policy for a long time and i'm sad to say it has increased exponentially under president obama.

raising all kinds of questions. and the president did promise in his state of the union you recall, that pretty soon, he was going to lay out for us what the official u.s. policy is about the use of drones. both overseas and overseas against people we consider to be our enemies who are nonamericans and about americans overseas then also the policy of drones which are becoming more and more widespread but growing fast here in this country. so, at any rate, the president promised that. today's the day. he's going to unveil it. as a prelude to that yesterday the president obviously told attorney general eric holder to inform congress that so far we have targeted and killed with drone strikes four americans overseas. four americans we decided were in one case, at least web decided was such a threat and we

couldn't arrest him or get to him that we killed him by a drone and the other three cases they may have just been americans who were in the wrong place at the wrong time but these americans killed without being arrested, without being given a chance to defend themselves without being brought to trial, a right guaranteed to every american citizens by the constitution. but eric holder admitted yesterday, we killed four. so today, at the national defense university the president's going to respond -- answer some of these questions. questions we've all had about when do we use drones. who decides to use them. what are the circumstances. what about the fact that civilians may be killed. what about the fact -- are we able to capture this person or not? and basically how high up the chain is this decision. is it the president himself or is it delegated to some

bureaucrat like we saw bureaucrats in the irc -- i mean the i.r.s. rather making these decisions. lots of questions about the use of drones. both overseas, here at home. according to "the new york times," its lead article this morning says the president in a big shift of policy is going to announce that he's taking steps to limit the use of drones. "new york times" says, for example, first of all that the president is transferring authority over drones from the c.i.a. to the pentagon. which i think doesn't say they'll take the c.i.a. totally out of the business. little murky there. but basically, it is up to the pentagon. which i think makes more sense. look, these are killing machines in a time of war whether it's actual all-out war or this continuing -- the war on

terror. the war of islamic militants. that's really the job of the pentagon more than the job of the c.i.a. which is supposed to be our spy agency, not our killer agency. every time the c.i.a.'s gotten involved to kill anybody starting with assassinating other leaders of the world we didn't happen to like at the time, we've gotten in trouble. i think moving to this pentagon is a good effort. the other thing is it is going to impose the same standards on foreign enemies that we now impose on americans tightening up the use of drones and also according to "the new york times," it is going to limit what are called these signature strikes where we have hit groups of people, remember, the stories about wedding ceremonies being hit or groups of people gathering in a house and those inevitably lead to civilian deaths, collateral deaths alongside of it which has created so much animosity. in pakistan, in afghanistan in yemen and other countries where

we've used it. 4 americans killed out of 4700 deaths attributed to drones. so as we've said before, you can see the use of drones in many ways has its advantages, does not put american lives on the line. doesn't put boots on the ground but at the same time it gets us so far removed from the killing and any responsibility for it, is this really legitimate warfare we want to support. the president unveiling that today. love your comments on this. you think this will move in the right direction. 1-866-55-press or should we just ban the use of drones altogether 1-866-55-press. and again we do this in the face of what is definitely, definitely going to be more widespread use of drones both i think legitimate and illegitimate here on american soil. one final point this whole story is out today in "the

new york times." front page. top story. how do you think they got it? you think "the new york times" just had like -- they bugged the president's office? uh-huh. they got it because it was leaked to them. it was leaked to "the new york times" by the white house. wanted to get the story out in advance of the president's speech. i can't resist making the point. here we are. now, with this obama administration, and the department of justice which is pursuing journalists, right, for trying to get information and has already prosecuted six members of the administration for leaking to journalists when the white house leaks to journalists all the time. but when they do it, it's okay. when somebody else does it and journalists try to get those stories, then the department of justice seizes phone records

brands a guy from fox news as a criminal co-conspirator, gets his e-mails -- you see, my point is everybody leaks. and this obsession of the obama administration with leaks is a one-way street. they do it all the time! i'm glad we got this story. thank you for the leak, mr. president. is the policy the right one? 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war

room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right?

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: so, the secret unlimited -- apparently unlimited use of drones catching up with us. and president obama about to unveil a new strategy transferring power to the pentagon and limiting their use. is that good enough? a little transparency here. peter? >> we're on twitter. you can find us at bpshow. on the drones, we asked the question if our tweeters were okay with the fact that we've killed four american citizens. how they feel about -- >> bill: not to mention 4,696 others. >> there it is that. >> kpt says no, i have no problem with killing them. we should kill the enemy whoever they are. civilians killed from bombs dropped by a fighter jet or a

drone. what's the difference between the two. >> bill: i think we might as well just shut down all of our courts too. what's the purpose of having trials if we can just kill them and -- think of all of the money we would save if we got rid of all of the judges, all of the courthouse. >> richard says if this was a republican president, you would be wanting impeachment. admiral porky that's his name says i'm totally okay with this. once an american joins a terror organization, they become fair game. and an enemy of the united states. and one quick comment -- how about -- >> bill: how about the three americans who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? oops. >> on the leaks, one more quick comment from sherrie who says leaks are legal. the d.o.j. is just doing their job. the press needs to stop using the first amendment to commit crimes. >> bill: if leaks are illegal then uh-oh, what happened here? how did this get on the front page of the new york times?

anthony is calling from las vegas. hey, anthony. >> caller: i wanted to say one of the four americans that was killed was a 16-year-old. >> bill: yes. >> caller: we need to put that into consideration. second, i want to throw a hypothetical out there. what if countries like russia or china used the same kind of drone policy that we did to go into sovereign countries and take out terrorists and so forth. let's say the russian government said that we were going to take out the boston bombers because the american government wasn't doing nothing. that's like the same kind of policy that we use in pakistan, afghanistan. now, why can't other countries do that? >> bill: anthony. absolutely. i have asked the same question. it is not such a hypothetical, anthony. you know damn well that that technology is not that advanced. there are other countries who some day -- will have drones, will be using them. what do we say when they do what

we do? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern.

>> bill: 33 minutes after the hour here, thursday, may 23. not quite the memorial day weekend but getting close. it is the full "full court press" here. we're talking about president obama set to announce a new somewhat restrained more limited use of policy on the use of drones. kind of tass idly admitting by

giving the speech that we have been out-of-bounds with the use of drones up to this point, you don't think? 1-866-55-press is our toll free number. back to your calls and your comments in just a second. out in the state of oregon where i'm heading actually tomorrow for a nice memorial day weekend break, federal authorities are prosecuting members of an identity theft ring that allegedly stole mail from about 800 oregon mailboxes and used the information they got from that mail to drain the bank accounts of numerous victims. a classic case of identity theft. that's why i'm going out there. to check it out myself on the scene. but it is a good reminder that identity theft is lurking everywhere and you should be protected against it. as i am with what's called lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection available today, even monitors your bank accounts. life services can't protect you or your bank account if you're

not a member. here's what you do. visit lifelock.com or call and mention press 10 for 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. 1-800-396-5967 for lifelock ultimate. >> still getting a lot of comments on bpshow where margaret colvin says what if local police were using drones. when life is reduced to a video game, we lose our moral compass. >> bill: local police are already using drones. not all of them. >> not dropping bombs on people. >> bill: they're not armed drones yet with local police department but they could be. >> they usually could be. >> bill: remember rand paul's filibuster, you know, i can see there are clearly legitimate

uses for local law enformers and for some federal agencies, right. but there are also questions about privacy. >> she brings up a good point when she says that life is reduced to a video game. these aren't soldiers fighting with drones. it is people at desks and they're highly trained and i understand that. they don't see war. they don't see battle. it is a joystick and the computer program and that's how it works. >> bill: i saw a picture the other day -- paper of two guys who were drone pilots, if you will, i think this might have been taken -- didn't say. might have been at c.i.a. headquarters. they were real drone pilots. it looked like cyprian's tricaster machine here for the cameras except they had these big armchairs sitting back in the armchairs and in the front of them, a bunch of computer screens. one on this side and one on this side and two guys.

they were just sitting there like -- >> oh, wow. now i'm starting to worry about who cyprian is on the phone with all the time. you know? maybe he's got a side job. >> bill: there he is. jeff calling from phoenix arizona. what do you say jeff? >> caller: admiral and -- those individuals, anyone else who says kill whoever they are. they are the same people fighting for the same sewer drine hide in because we have created a lot of enemies. pakistan has a new prime minister. he's not fond of the drone strikes we've been doing in his country. they could be in the united states eventually. >> bill: jeff, think about that. reinforce your point. we're not at war with pakistan. we haven't declared war against

pakistan but without the government's oh we're flying drones over their country over their territory and killing people in their country and then with no responsibility, right? >> no kidding. i've been on top of it. i imagine at some point they'll be saying -- you have the obama administration saying -- i'm sorry. i don't believe anything he's saying anymore. it will probably increase the drone strikes and go after the leaks to make sure information doesn't get out you know. >> bill: i appreciate your cynicism and i think that's healthy. but i also believe -- i think this is a step in the right direction. and the more we know about these drones and when they're used, the better off we are as a country and as a people.

fairfax, california. on the way to inverness california. hello, cliff. how you doing? >> caller: hello. forest knolls. >> bill: better yet. >> caller: you know what, while i was on hold, i heard your commercials. we're talking about identity theft and rosetta stone. >> bill: yeah. and? >> caller: that about says it all. right there. ask me five questions i'll give you five answers. everybody knows what's going on. we all know what's going on, okay? >> bill: so do you think -- so you're saying the use of drones is totally legitimate or not? >> caller: it is not okay. we all know that. good god. >> bill: all right. >> yeah, bill, good god. >> bill: cliff i'll see you in forest knolls next time i'm on my way to inverness.

let me tell you. there is a lot of pot smoking in forest knolls. >> i think that was a commercial for it. >> bill: now the whole world knows. henry is calling from arkadelphia, arkansas. hey, henry. what's going on? >> caller: i'm going to make some of your callers mad. >> that's all right. bill does it all the time. >> caller: i believe we have the right to use drones in a limited capacity. the reason why because drones can carry out strikes and stuff that would actually put a lot of human in harm's way. all forces to go in and strike when they know there's somebody that they need to get. and you can take a drone, go ahead and take -- soldiers in harm's way to get equipment in. get the job done and then get the personnel and equipment back

out. earlier when you were talking in your initial statement about having constitutional rights and for american citizens overseas -- >> bill: yep. >> caller: within the confines of the united states, you have rights. if you're in sovereign area like the embassy you have constitutional rights. if you're in the u.s. military, u.s. military bases or you're a representative of government you have constitutional rights. but if you're outside those boundaries which is a lot of places including one inch step into canada, you don't have constitutional rights. >> bill: whoa, whoa, whoa. wait a minute here. you say i go to france, i give away all of my constitutional rights as an american? in this country? so my country can kill me in france? and have no responsibility? my country can send a drone to france and kill me and that's

okay? >> caller: like this mr. bill press, if you -- u.s. councilman or u.s. embassy or any u.s. installation whatsoever and you say commit a crime, you don't have no constitutional rights whatsoever? >> bill: so our government, our u.s. government -- you know, i go to france, i go to mexico, i go to canada, try to avoid canada but at any rate, my government can follow me with a drone and kill me down there and i don't have any constitutional rights? henry, you're out of your freakin' mind. >> caller: okay, bill. i'm just saying from experience. i'll back out of it and i won't say nothing then. >> bill: you have to think through what you're saying henry. you're a bright man. i can tell that but you're not making sense here. we do not surrender our constitutional rights. and by the way i notice you said in the beginning and i've never said no drones at all.

that you have to ban them. but you said use of drones is okay in a limited role. that's the key question, henry. limited role. how limited? we didn't know there were any limits up until now. and we don't know yet but the president today is going to talk about what limits he is putting on the use of drones. i think this is a step in the right direction. john fuglesang has a lot to say about the issues of the day. we'll join john fuglesang or he will join us, whatever, on the "full court press." >> announcer: like politics, then like the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show."

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. you know we do our best to get things started here in the morning. but you really want to know what's going on, the man who wraps it up every night does an excellent job with a great group of guests, our good friend john fuglesang, host of "viewpoint" at 8:00 p.m. on current tv. joining us this morning on our news line. hey, john, how you doing? >> john: good morning mr. press, how are you? >> bill: nice that you're burning the candle at both ends. >> john: i have a baby so i don't sleep anymore anyhow. >> bill: i love to start with you have been making an excellent point about the fact that we really ought to be

spending more time talking about sexual harassment in the military and less time talking about bungling at the i.r.s. what do you think when you pick up "the new york times" this morning and on the front page, we find out that up at westpoint, an army officer has been secretly videotaping women in the shower and in the bathroom. >> john: yeah, what about that? you know, it's interesting because i try to give republicans advice on this all the time because i know they all watch current tv a lot bill. you know, we've been seeing this as the golden age of the fake scandal. with benghazi, it is all about exploiting tragedy for political gain. it is very grotesque. i guess they want to impeach president obama to get the much more liberal president biden. i.r.s. scandal no tea party groups were ever denied tax-exempt status. they play victim anyway. you know, trying to say obama was out of the loop, they can't stand a president who is out of the loop on things unless it is about torture or selling weapons

to iran. a.p. is a real scandal but they don't care. >> bill: you know what else? the media doesn't care. i go to the briefings and all the media is talking about is the i.r.s. i want to say get to the real scandal here! >> john: some of the media cares a lot. this is a.p., we just had michael hastings and eric boehlert foaming at the mouth the other night. but the scandals don't care because they hate journalists and unless it is a fox guy, of course. and number two talking about obama spying, the obama administration spying on journalists, completely up ends their narrative of obama being in bed with journalists. so there is a real scandal out there that i think if the g.o.p. wanted to get some traction with voters, they could really advance on and they could really take on as their own. it is military sexual assaults. they won't do it because you can't slag president obama. when you look at what's going

on, it is so terrible, the department of defense report that came out revealed that the estimated number of sexual assaults in the military increased last year to 26,000. 12,000 of women on active duty being victims of sexual assaults and 13,900 men. that's 38 men and 33 women per day. and less than 10% of victims actually reported their assaults last year. less than 1%, bill, i know you know this, less than 1% of sex abuse perpetrators were convicted last year under the pentagon's current system of justice. and because of what they have right now is commanding officers can throw charges out if they want. >> bill: then the pentagon -- the officers come up in front of congress and say we know we've got a problem but we've got it under control. thank god kirsten gillibrand and jackie speier don't buy the b.s. >> john: it is hard for me to talk about sexual harassment and

kirsten gillibrand because i harass her every time i open my mouth. she's my future girlfriend and i will have her. >> bill: we have a race to the finish line on that one here. you got some competition. >> john: well, once president elizabeth warren gets in, i'll probably be harassing her just as much, too. >> bill: of course, you're in new york. you have an advantage. >> john: indeed, i do. she's proven to be such a great choice to have replaced senator clinton. in the v.a. system, it is worse because one in five women and one in 500 men screen positive for sexual trauma. ptsd related to sexual trauma. last year, 334 veterans per month filed for disability benefits related to military sexual trauma. almost a third were men. >> bill: wow. it is just absolutely -- shocking and unbelievable.

that this thing has gotten so out of hand. i want to switch here -- topics a little bit. because you and i that's what we do for a living. we cover a lot of stuff. i never thought -- you probably had the same feeling that we would ever agree with ted cruz on anything. but i do want to play this little clip because this is ted cruz yesterday. john mccain, among others, has been saying and chris van hollen will join us later in our program saying we need to have a conference committee between the house and the senate to adopt a budget. ted cruz opposes having a conference committee and here's what he said yesterday. here's why. >> the senior senator from arizona urged this body to trust the republicans. let me be clear die trust the republicans. >> bill: okay. what do you think john? >> john: agrees with what ted cruz says is not the same as agreeing with ted cruz because we'll never know how much of

what ted cruz says he even means. ted cruz's voice and larynx are a dog whistle to tea party voters and dog whistles don't have opinions so it is hard to judge based on what ted says. i do enjoy his speeches. they're better in the original german but i have no idea. i guess slamming john mccain is trendy again this season. for republicans. >> bill: it is amazing. ted cruz defies all of the lessons, what you expect of democrats or republicans in the senate. he just doesn't care. >> john: he doesn't care at all. the fact is -- i almost respect it about him. he's got the rand paul chromosome. he's so determineded to advance himself politically and financially that he doesn't care about the party unity. that's kind of fun and it is going to be a real pleasure watching him run for president. and pretty much say whatever he wants to say. >> bill: i can't wait for that primary. ted cruz, rand paul and you know

michele bachmann will be back. >> john: i don't think michele bachmann will be back. i don't know if she'll be in congress. when you look at the clown car it is going to be like the avengers of super villains in 2014. you know santorum will run again. sarah palin has to run. she has no other way to stay in the public eye. either run for president or host an infomercial about cosmetics on tv. you'll have jeb bush and chris christie. it will be the all-stars. it will be so much fun. i think chris christie will mop the stage with all of them. >> bill: it proves there is a god. john, great to have you with us this morning. >> john: i can't wait to hear how oliver north weighs in on lois lerner brushing aside congress's questions. >> bill: good point. say hello to the baby. talk to you soon. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.

>> bill: all right, now time for your e-mails brought to you today by sherwin williams. make the most of your color with the very best paint. ask sherwin williams. kevin points out hey bill, if you don't like the democratic senate giving apple a pass on their tax evasion here's a solution. change apple's name to tea party apple and there will be an automatic i.r.s. audit. and frank says he completely agrees with me that attorney general eric holder should be fired. he overstayed his welcome when he decided to let the guys on

wall street slide.

>> bill: happy thursday. it is thursday, may 23. good to see you today. and off we go with the "full court press" this thursday morning. good to you have with us here. wherever you happen to be in this great land of ours, we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. and our studio on capitol hill just down the street from the united states capitol building and bringing you up to date on the situation out in oklahoma.

where president obama will be heading on sunday to view firsthand, the damage from the tornado this week. governor mary fallin. governor chris christie in new jersey says even if inhofe and coburn voted not to send aid to us, we should send all the help we can to the people of oklahoma. here in the nation's capital president obama poised to give a major speech today on drones. he'll be speaking at the national defense university. according to "the new york% times," we're going to limit our use of drones. we're going to transfer responsibility for drones from the c.i.a. to the pentagon. and we're going to stop using the signature strikes that have resulted in the deaths of collateral deaths of so many civilians with these drone strikes. and michele bachmann said she's got the answer to all of the problems with the i.r.s. just abolish the i.r.s.

we don't need the i.r.s. she says all americans will just pay their taxes voluntarily. sure, they will, michele. more of that, everything else here on current tv. stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. when i first felt the diabetic nerve pain, of course i had no idea what it was. i felt like my feet were going to sleep. it progressed from there to burning... to like 1,000 bees that were just stinging my feet. [ female announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone.

it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. having less pain is -- it's a wonderful feeling. [ female announcer ] ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain.

this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just

care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: michele bachmann says i got the way to solve the problems of the i.r.s. let's just abolish the i.r.s. then we'll all pay our taxes voluntarily, i guess, i don't know. good morning everybody. what do you say? it is the "full court press" on this thursday, may 23rd, great to see you today. thank you for joining us. we're coming out to you live all the way across this great land of ours.

wherever you happen to be in this great country we're there with you on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. bringing you the news of the day and most importantly giving. >> chance to join in and give us your comments, what the issues mean to you and to your family. we'll hear from you on our phone line at 1-866-55-press. we want to hear from you on twitter as well. your comments welcome on twitter at bpshow. and on facebook, become our friend and let us know what you think at facebook.com/billpressshow. this, of course, is the beginning of memorial day weekend. we're starting it a day early. we can't wait until the weekend. officially starts tomorrow. and with all you know, the fun the games and the barbecue, it is important to take time out to remember what memorial day really is all about. and remember those who have served us in uniform and kept us safe and secure and those who

are doing so today and especially those who have particularly served so proudly in iraq and afghanistan have come home with serious injuries and need our attention and our help. they do and so do their families. nobody is doing a better job of that in my experience as fisher house and here with us today representative of fisher house the vice president of operations, brian gone. nice to see you today. >> good morning, bill. >> bill: thanks for coming in. >> my pleasure. >> bill: i've had a chance to visit with you out here at bethesda naval hospital once. want all of our listeners to find out what you're doing and how they can help and what your plans are for this weekend. >> terrific. fischer house has been around for over 20 years. the concept is that when a service member is injured or their family members or a veteran, usually loved ones

want to be by their side. if they don't live in the area, that represents a problem. where are they going to stay? if they're from out of town, can they afford it? our goal is to help families when they need it most, that's during the hospitalization of a loved one. >> bill: we'll tell you more about that here. you're joined by our team. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey hey hey. >> bill: alichia cruz has the phones covered and cyprian bowlding, we're not sure what he's doing. cyprian -- >> he's flying the drones. >> bill: he's got the video cam here covered on current tv. we're going to talk about fischer house and also chris van hollen will be joining us, ranking democrat on the budget committee representing the state of maryland nearby and in the next hour, congressman steny hoyer, also from maryland, by the way number two democrat in the house will be joining us as

well. and brian we'll get right to fischer house but first, dan has some of the headlines. >> other headlines make news on this thursday, carole king was honored at the white house last night in a concert where she herself performed. the stars in washington receiving the library of congress's gershwin prize for popular song. she played several hits off of her 1971 album tapestry and other guests there last night included gloria estefan tricia yearwood james taylor and billy joel. they all performed carole king's hits as well. the concert was taped. it will air next week on pbs. >> bill: when you're president, they just come to you. you have to buy tickets. go downstairs to the east room and -- >> pretty great gig. >> bill: what a line-up. >> blues legends motown, country, now carole king with a star-studded cast of people

performing her hits. it is pretty great. you get a front row ticket to some pretty great music. >> bill: maybe i'll run just for that. >> if you've had a drink in new jersey in the last year, there is a chance you were not getting what you made for. "usa today" reports that police wrapped up a year-long undercover investigation called operation swill yesterday. they found 29 bars and restaurants that replaced premium liquor in bottles with the cheap stuff and charged customers full price to increase profits. nearly half of the restaurants caught are t.g.i.fridays. >> whoa! >> bill: tgif. whoa! what's chris christie have to say about this? i'll bet he has a mouthful. >> pass the butter. paula deen, the albany herald reports her former husband is leading an effort to create a museum in honor of the celebrity cook in her childhood home of

albany georgia. not definite yet. paula said she's honored by the idea. >> bill: favorite chief peter -- favorite chef peter? >> not really. what do you get with your price of admission? your ticket and a stick of butter? >> bill: i thought she had gone straight, so to speak? this whole thing about a year ago -- >> with her diabetes. >> bill: all healthy from now on? >> she is legitimately cooking healthier. she's not doing everything fried. that's where she made her money. >> bill: we'll do a field trip to the museum. >> bill: let's get back to the more serious -- when i went out there to fischer house, i was first of all blown away at what a beautiful place it is. when you're talking about you provide -- let's go back to the basic is when there are men and

women in the military and hospital and for extended stays right, their family -- they want to be with them. they want the family nearby. the family wants to be there. what do they do? fischer house steps up. what you provide, we've not talking about a little neighborhood motel or a hotel room. >> no. you know, the foundation was started by a philanthropist by the name of zack fisher. he was a millionaire. self-made. he and his brother started a construction business in new york. and he felt like he always had to give back. he couldn't serve during world war ii because of a previous injury construction accident. so he served in the -- he always felt i've got to give back. he talked to chief of naval operation here in washington d.c. the story goes they come across a saylor sleeping agent their car in bethesda. said why are you doing this? my wife is actually getting treatment at the nail hospital here and i just don't have the

money for a hotel room and even if i did there aren't any near bethesda. we that you could about it and said you know, zack said i'm a builder. i could build you something similar to a ronald mcdonald house. that was just over 20 years ago. >> bill: first one was here at bethesda? >> and the original walter reed. >> bill: how many -- bethesda, you still have that one -- >> we have that one and we built more one. -- another one. when they closed reed, we built three more. a total of five now at bethesda. >> bill: and worldwide or around the country? >> we've got 58 house across the country plus two over in germany which is the military hospital that if a service member gets injured in iraq or afghanistan that's the first stop when they're out of the country. >> it is amazing. it is such a -- it is an idea that makes so much sense and yet it is something i can see people just didn't think of at the

time. >> military does a good job of providing world-class healthcare. but it is that follow-on. we talk about the service members but them being able to do their job their families are taken care of, too. military dependents get treatment. everyone asks what are you going to do when the war ends? service members get cancer. they have heart problems. they are in car accidents. as are their family. how can they concentrate on the job if they're worried about their loved ones, as well. we also saw the need, too for that follow-on care. we have 23 houses at v.a. hospitals across the country. so you know, by two years from now, half of all of our houses will be supporting veterans affairs hospitals and medical centers. >> bill: brian gawne is from

fisher house. f-i-s-h-e-r, no c. you know the territory because you had 28 years in the navy before you retired. and now joining fisher house. the facility was absolutely beautiful. the rooms were like suites, right? and big, open areas living areas where people can enjoy the company of other families that are there. and then big kitchen area so that if they want to cook and a lot of them do get together and plan like basically family meals, it is a tremendous atmosphere and welcoming home that you provide. how long can people stay? >> we have some families spend the night. we have -- there is a family down in tampa that stayed for three years now. that's not usual but if the

patient has to be getting treatment at that hospital. we really don't have a limit. it is as long as it's needed. that's the key thing. >> bill: do they pay anything? >> nope. they don't pay anything. which is nice. the family -- that way the service member or the family can concentrate on taking care of their loved one. they don't have to worry about -- i've run into families at bethesda who said if this house wasn't here, we don't know how we would do it. son was injured overseas. they said basically from utah and said we put our lives on hold so we could be here. we couldn't be here if we were worrying about paying for a hotel or trying to figure out where they were going to stay. >> bill: there is also the expense of travel. >> in some cases the government funds that. >> they'll pay to bring the family in but they might have limitations on the tickets. 21st century family, parents may be separated or estranged. or right person to be there. the government has limitations

on what they can do. we can -- if the right person to be there is uncle bob but uncle bob isn't immediate family, you know we're a nonprofit. uncle bob can stay there if he's the caregiver right person to be at their side. >> bill: do you help at all with travel? >> we do. as a matter of fact. we have a program called hero miles that started in 2006. that's where people can donate their frequent flier miles to us. we consolidate those. once they're donated to us, they never expire. we're partnered with all of the major airlines. if folks have frequent flier miles that are getting ready to expire, they can go to our web site and donate to the here row miles. last month -- >> bill: fisherhouse.org. >> that's right. last month we were able to help -- write 1400 tickets free of charge. since we started the program we've done 37,000 tickets. you don't schedule when you're going to get sick so these are

hugely short notice tickets changeable that would run about $1600 a ticket so you do the math there 1400 -- that's over $2 million just last month we saved families in transportation costs. >> bill: the focus that i was seeing and the people that i met there were families, iraq and afghanistan. do you go back to people who served in vietnam who might get a later in life -- >> we serve the 91-year-old world war ii vet. we serve the 19-year-old afghanistan vet. we serve the 9 day old newborn that's in intensive care unit that's the child of a military couple. that's the nice part is these houses will -- our wounded warriors are going to need long-term care. we're saving young men and women today. we could not have saved. >> bill: that's what i wanted to get to that next. that really increases the demand today, right? because the advance of military technology. >> that's correct.

>> bill: the changing nature of warfare. >> it will be a continuity of care. some of these young men will need care at v.a. medical centers the rest of their lives. we've got saylors staying at bethesda who are younger than the fisher house there. their families stay in a house. that's the nice part about this gift is it is something tangible. it is going to be there. it is not gone tomorrow. >> bill: yeah. so let's talk about how people can help. more about how people can help to start with, go to fisherhouse.org. we really want to encourage you to do what we've done and support fisher house. and first step is to know more about it. that's why brian gawne is here today, vice president of operation for fish every house here on the "full court press." we'll be right back to take your calls and your comments at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: get social with bill press. like us at

facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the "bill press show." (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

cenk off air alright in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks! i think the number 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. they know that i'm not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know

i'm going to be the first one to call them out. cenk on air>> what's unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. cenk off air i don't want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they can't buy our politics anymore. cenk off air and they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts! narrator uniquely progressive and always topical the worlds largest online news show is on current tv. cenk off air and i think the audience gets, "this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us." only on current tv!

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour. beginningbeginning this memorial day weekend, we're talking about the great program called the fisher house. the fisher house foundation. brian gawne is the operations director, vice president rather of operations at fisher house in studio with us. peter? >> we're on twitter at bpshow. look it up later. we tweeted out a link to fisher house where you can find out ways to help and we were tweeting at bpshow, saying happy memorial day to all of the service members and their

families. remember, some gave all. always nice to remember that on memorial day. >> bill: absolutely. so brian i want to come back. you were mentioning you've got 58 houses here. all at military bases? >> all of the major military bases are covered and we cover the five -- there are five v.a. polytrauma centers one in richmond, one in minneapolis one in palo alto one in san antonio and one in tampa. those are the first ones we wanted to cover the v.a. because polytrauma means they have multiple injuries. it also treats service members as well as veterans. 23 veterans hospitals. we're building more. in fact we build about four houses every year. we've growing. we've got 60 today. 64 next year. we're growing. there is a definite need. there are hundreds of v.a. hospitals out there. we would like to cover those because there are a lot of veterans that are traveling for

their -- >> bill: you mentioned mr. fisher got this thing started. your funding today comes from contributions from listeners and viewers? >> from folks like your listeners out there we do get corporate grants. the nice part about that is 96 cents on every dollar we get goes to helping families. we keep our overhead low. >> that's huge by the way. a lot of people -- for a charity organization, a lot of them have a lot of overhead. that's amazing. >> you know, this is valuable to come to talk to you because we don't do a lot of advertising. we don't do marketing. people ask us. because we don't like to get it. it is kind of a fisher family value. >> bill: you mentioned quickly, hotels for heros is a new part of the program. >> we started that last year. thanks to congressman up arous berger and senator ben cardin who got legislation for us to accept a similar program.

now we've got partners like la quinta and marriott on board so that if a service member is being treated at someplace where there isn't a fisher house or that fisher house is full which often happens part of the reason why we're building more, we're building three houses next year that are second houses just because the demand is great. so when we can't do that, we use these donated rewards points from hotels. >> bill: what a great program. what a service you're providing. i talked to some of the family members there when i was out in bethesda, they couldn't say enough about how great it is. brian, thank you for all of the great work you're doing. we urge you to get on board and give them all of the support you can at fisherhouse.org. happy memorial day. >> thanks. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) 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. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: you bet it is. 33 minutes after the hour on this thursday, may 23. great to see you today. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. the "full court press" brought to you today by the american federation of teachers. the good men and women of the aft under president randi weingarten. boy, teachers really stepping up to the plate and doing the job out in moore oklahoma. all of the stories of the teachers protecting the kids in the elementary schools. so moving and so impressive. and of course, teachers are always there doing a great job every day. salute the aft and you can find out more about their great work at their web site, aft.org. well busy day. business -- busy days here for

the united states congress. the senate is getting something done, not necessarily in the house. we wanted to find out what progress, if any is being made on the important issues of the day. in studio with us, the ranking democrat on the house budget committee, congressman chris van hollen. congressman, great to see you. >> great to be back. >> bill: we all want to know have you repealed obamacare this week? >> well, i don't know. after the 37th or 38th time, look you're absolutely right bill. the senate is moving ahead on some big issues, immigration reform. other matters. the house is just stuck in this circle of make believe. let's repeal obamacare which is such a bad idea on so many levels but one thing people should know is that if we actually repealed obamacare the republicans claim to have a budget that's in balance in ten years. disappears. it evaporates automatically

because the dirty little secret is they depend on the revenue in obamacare and the savings to balance their budget so yes they took away all of the benefits of obamacare but they left the revenues that come in and if they actually got their way and repealed it, their budget would be way out of balance. really, it is a huge gimmick. >> bill: it really is a joke. i see how -- they could say we're doing the will of the people or the people's job to continue to repeal. but also, congressman they promise to come up to replace obama -- be repeal and replace right? where's the replace end of this equation? >> there is a little bit of a pattern here, bill. you're exactly right. they said a number of years ago we republicans recognize that there are lots of problems in the healthcare system. so we're going to come up with our own alternative plan.

so get rid of that and we're going to come up with something better. you're right. to this day they've never come up with anything. just like they've claimed to have this great tax reform plan that will drop the top rate to 25% without increasing the deficit and without raising the burden on middle income people. the reality is the math shows that they will be raising the tax burden on middle income people to finance tax breaks for the wealthy which is why they haven't shown us their tax plan. >> bill: the last time you were in studio, you were calling -- not you alone but you made the point here on the show that now we have a president who has released his budget. we've got a house budget, a senate budget. what we need is a conference committee. about a month ago, you were here. how are we doing on that call for a conference committee? >> interesting question you ask because we all remember republicans, three years. the senate did not have a budget. i got a budget, i think more

than 50 days ago now and we want to go to conference. the senate democrats want to go to conference. house democrats want to go to conference. speaker boehner who for months, said he wanted the so-called regular order. he wanted to deal with this budget the way it is supposed to be done, with the negotiation in conference. he's refused to appoint conferees. interestingly, senate republicans are finally getting embarrassed by this. senator mccain just said yesterday that it's crazy for republicans not to want to go to a conference. they've been beating that drum for years. in fact, he said it was "insane" and "incomprehensible" that republicans wouldn't want to go. it is holding up progress on the economy and on the budget. >> bill: i don't know whether you heard but after senator mccain's comment senator cruz told the world why he opposes going to a conference -- here

congressman, senator cruz yesterday. >> the senior senator from arizona urged this body to trust the republicans. let me be clear. i don't trust the republicans. and i don't trust the democrats. >> bill: he doesn't trust his fellow republicans. >> yeah, look, here's the situation. you would think that he would at least have some trust for the american people. what we're calling for bill, is when you go to conference, it is a public process. it is transparent. it is not behind closed doors. and you know, senator cruz and all of the others were saying well we need a budget. well, we don't have a federal budget right? in fact, we've not complying with the federal statute on the budget which says you have to have a conference committee by april 15th. so republicans who beat up on the president for his budget being a little late and there were reasons for his budget delay are now in violation of federal budget rules and doing

nothing to correct it. which they have in their power by saying let's go to conference. interesting to hear senator cruz talking about the fact he doesn't trust republicans. i don't like the republican budget but let's get moving on to talks. >> bill: yeah, no. absolutely. as a senate, you mentioned one issue that they have been moving forward on, the senate judiciary committee. passing the chfs immigration reform legislation. a lot of people so what. i was over at the senate yesterday talking with some republican staffers who said there's no doubt that they've got the votes to get this off the floor. there will be some debate over some amendments but most people say well, so what. when it gets to the house, it is dead on arrival. you share that? >> well, i do not share that view. again, this is going to be up to speaker boehner. as to whether or not he is going to allow this to move forward. i think that if you have a big bipartisan bill coming out of

the senate with bipartisan vote, on a major national issue like immigration reform, the speaker of the house is going to have to think twice before he allows his tea party caulk us to block it and stop it on its tracks. that would be an ind dhaition republicans not only refuse to make progress on issues on the budget and all of the other things that they're holding up but they once again would torpedo a bipartisan effort on something that we know from the last presidential election should be important to them. so look, i think at the end of the day the speaker allows an up-or-down vote on something like the senate bill. it is not going to have an immediate up-or-down vote on the senate bill. probably go to committee. but i think he's going to have to do that. even if it means the majority of his own members not voting for it. >> bill: i remember a couple of months ago, there was some

issue that came out of the senate. 72 something, it was heavy bipartisan issue. and again, this was the one where the speaker hadn't even guaranteed a vote on it. what came out of the senate without much support. >> if you recall, there was, for example, the violence against women act. >> bill: that's what it was. >> came roaring out of the senate. before the election, i recall. the house stopped it. at that point. but then they realized, you know, come on. this was a bill that has broad bipartisan support. >> bill: the front page of the hill headline this morning tough immigration choice for pelosi. tough immigration choice for all democrats. if the bill comes out of the senate without this provision for same-sex couples will there be an effort to get that back in the house? and do you think that without that, the immigration bill is

still -- >> i think there will be an effort in the senate. now, if that does not get a majority in the senate, obviously it comes from the house. those of us who support the idea of making sure that same-sex couples can enjoy the immigration status of others, will certainly press for it. i have to -- realistically, it is obviously even harder to get that add to the bill in the house. than the senate. and so while there will be an effort, people will be faced with the hard choice whether or not an important comprehensive immigration bill that doesn't have that important provision is still better than the status quo. and you know, i do share the view of senators who said that you know, we should still move forward on immigration reform. we'll keep up the fight on this other issue and it is not over. not over in the senate. it will not be over in the house. ultimately, again, you know, the

public needs to weigh in on this issue. but we will, bottom line, we've got to fight for this. that's the right thing to do. ultimately, the question becomes if you're not successful, does that mean you torpedo the whole thing. and you know, this is a big comprehensive immigration bill that many people have been fighting for. >> bill: and that we've been fighting for a long time. congressman chris van hollen our guest here in studio. when we come back, want to get your take on the i.r.s. hearing yesterday. that issue hasn't gone away. and then you have been pushing for corporations to disclose to their shareholders what kind of campaign contributions they're making. and we'll check in on the progress of that as well. whole lot of things to talk about and i'm sure you have questions about at 1-866-55-press.

current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

>> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: fighting the good fight on behalf of all of us, congressman chris van hollen from the state of maryland, ranking democrat on the house budget committee here at 13 minutes before the top of the hour on this thursday, may 23. peter? >> just a quick note to our colorado listeners today is the day that they will get a new candidate for governor, tom

tancredo will announce his candidacy on a conservative radio show in denver. he hasn't filed paperwork yet but he's going to make the announcement today. so your savior is here, colorado. here comes tancredo. >> at least he isn't running for president again. >> there you go. >> always the optimist, bill. >> bill: former colleague of yours, congressman. >> there you go. somebody who has bitterly fought all efforts at reasonable immigration reform. and so you know, as you say, it is great that he's a candidate in colorado instead of the united states congress. great he won't win the governor. >> bill: babe buchanan is going to run his campaign. don't write him off yet. [ laughter ] >> bill: what about this i.r.s. scandal congressman? is it really a scandal and how

serious is it? what do you think? >> it is absolutely a scandal bill. these were really unacceptable actions taken by i.r.s. employees because of the way they went about this. they have to determine whether or not an organization is trying to use the cover of a 501(c)(4) to engage in mostly direct, political activity. >> bill: we want them to do that. >> so the mistake they made was to create a keyword process that seemed to single out more conservative groups. what's important is that you apply the law consistently to all groups whether they're on the right left or in the middle to make sure they don't use this particular tax-exempt tax form to abuse the i.r.s. rules. which otherwise would require disclosure of major donors when they're spending that money. when those groups spend the

money to beat or elect candidates. that is a big issue. >> bill: you sort of hint at the problem here is citizens united right? >> right. so what happened is after the supreme court's citizens united case, a very bad decision in my view you had a flood of groups trying to take advantage of this particular tax form. so yes, the i.r.s. -- >> bill: tea party groups. >> had a doubling of the applications from groups on the right and the left. more on the right than on the left. and went about this in a total boneheaded way in terms of creating the keyword. really the i.r.s. has got to get out of the business of trying to determine whether 51% of some groups activity is political versus what's called social welfare and educational. that is an untenable position to be in when you're flood by these applications. the longer term answer is to

require something like the disclose act which many of us have been pushing. we passed it out of the house actually when the democrats had a majority in the house. senator mitch mcconnell is on the warpath against the idea of transparency. against the idea that voters have a right to know who is bankrolling these campaigns. so that bill would apply a disclosure. disclosure to groups that are spending a lot of money trying to influence the outcome of elections. >> bill: so it is sort of an end run around citizens united, right? legitimate end run meaning if you can't get rid of -- either by supreme court decision or constitutional amendment, at least maybe we can get some transparency if the corporations have to reveal the contributions they're making. but if voters have a right to know that, congressman don't shareholders do, too? >> shareholders should have a right to know. the disclose bill would require

simply notice, right? i mean if you are a corporation and you're spending your shareholder's money to try to influence the outcome of the campaigns, tell your shareholders. it is a pretty basic principle. interestingly, while i strongly disagree with the court's decision in citizens united, eight of those nine justices, so everybody from scalia on the right to others on the more liberal side of the court said the public should have access to this information. they were very much in favor of disclosure and made a lot of statements in that decision, assuming that congress would act. to allow more disclosure. but you know, again senator mcconnell and others do not want voters apparently to have the information about what independent groups are financing their campaigns. in some cases you're talking about millions and millions of dollars. >> bill: it -- is the disclose act still alive? >> i've reintroduced the

disclose act in the house. we introduced it in january. we have at loss of democrats on board. we have walter jones. a brave republican on this issue who stands for the idea of disclosure and letting voters know. and in the senate, senator whitehouse has introduced in the past possible reintroduction then there's some other legislation in the senate, widen and murkowski have a similar idea, different approach. >> bill: very, very important. we'll continue to track that with you as well. we thank you for your time. thank you for your good work. >> thank you. >> bill: and for your leadership. >> it is good to be with you both. let's just make sure tancredo tanks fast. >> there you go. that's a good slogan. >> bill: have a good memorial day with your family, congressman. >> thank you. >> bill: see you again soon. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

and i think the audience gets, "this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us." only on current tv!

>> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. in the next hour, from the progressive magazine, matt rothschild joins us. and the house minority whip number two ranking democrat in the house of representatives steny hoyer will be here as well. the president gets the daily briefing today with the vice president at 10:15. then he will have meetings with his senior advisers at 11:00. at 12:30 the president and the vice president have lunch and then the president hops in the car to go over to the national

defense university right over here on the potomac giving a major speech on at 2:00 this afternoon on drone policy. according to "the new york times," the president is going to say we're limiting our use of drones. we're going to transfer authority, most of the authority for the use of drones from the c.i.a. to the pentagon. and eric holder announcing yesterday that, in fact, the united states has killed four americans overseas using drones. so this is the drone policy the president promised in his state of the union coming up a little bit later today. we'll be back with steny hoyer in the next hour.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ]

>> bill: hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it is thursday, may 23. this is the "full court press" coming to you live on current tv. we welcome you to the program. and encourage you to really be part of the program by not just watching not just listening but joining in the conversation yourself. you can do so by phone at 1-866-55-press. maybe easier, pick up your iphone. give us your comments on twitter at bpshow or join us on facebook. become our friend on facebook and join us at facebook.com/billpressshow. president obama major speech

today. remember back in the state of the union he promised he was going to lay forth for the american people what the administration's policy is on drones. when to use them. where to use them. who makes the decisions, who gives the command. what are the circumstances on the use of drones. that will come today. later this afternoon. in a speech, president is giving at the national defense university. and according to "the new york times," the president's going to say we're limiting the use of drones and we're going to transfer the authority for drones from the c.i.a. to the pentagon. meanwhile, back here, michele bachmann says she's got the answer to all of the problems with the i.r.s. she said just abolish the i.r.s. and everybody will pay their taxes voluntarily. we'll find out how on current tv. iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at

9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) 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. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. when i first felt the diabetic nerve pain, of course i had no idea what it was. i felt like my feet were going to sleep. it progressed from there to burning... to like 1,000 bees that were just stinging my feet. [ female announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever tired

feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. having less pain is -- it's a wonderful feeling. [ female announcer ] ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain.

this show is about analyzing

criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right?

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: pope francis says anybody can go to heaven. even atheists can go to heaven. well then what's the point? good morning everybody. great to see you today. here we are. it is the "full court press" on this thursday. we have officially declared it the beginning of the memorial day weekend. we don't want to wait until tomorrow. great to see you today. so let's party. let's celebrate. here on the "full court press." coming to you live all the way across this great country of ours from our studio on capitol

hill in washington, d.c. and on your local progressive talk radio station and of course on current tv. good to you have with us. don't forget we want you to just step into the studio here. it is easy to do. pick up the phone. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. pick up your iphone, give us your comments on twitter at bpshow on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. on thursday morning lots to talk about. they're already talking about rebuilding and how we're going to do it out in moore oklahoma. president obama headed there on sunday. he will tour the damage and destruction there with governor mary fallin. meanwhile, in new jersey, chris christie has said look, we don't like the fact that tom coburn and james inhofe voted against sending funding money to the victims of hurricane sandy but we don't want to hold it against the people of oklahoma.

chris christie saying we should send them all of the help that we can. good for him! again, great to see you today. the team is here. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> yes sir. >> good morning. >> bill: with alichia cruz there on the phones and cyprian bowlding has us covered on the video cam. everything good. >> frankly, i'm glad to hear we're all going to heaven now. it's okay. >> bill: so all of my family members will be there now. not just the catholics but the atheists as well. >> it almost sounds like the pope was making it up. someone asked him and said what if i'm an atheist and the pope said everyone, everyone, all you have to do is do good. if you do good "we'll find a meeting point." that's how he put it. all right. >> bill: it does raise the question then about why go through all of the tra la la of going to church and doing the

ceremonies and giving money to the church and supporting -- i mean if it doesn't matter -- >> i i have to imagine there are some life-long catholics out there who are furious. because that's the whole gig right? you gotta go to church. you gotta do this and do that. not really. pope said you don't have to. >> bill: keep our eye on what's happening in the sports world as well. there was a rare moment yesterday. remarkable moment on espn. joes at tessaer to was talking about the winner of the heisman trophy and what he's famous for. >> talking about the big event and celebrity and the -- the v.i.p.ness.

>> bill: is that who he is? >> he's got that v.i.p. quality to him. >> bill: as we mention, the honorable steny hoyer number two ranking democrat in the house of representatives joining us later in this hour. we'll kick off the hour with matt rothschild with progressive magazine out in madison wisconsin. very important story that he's been working on. just published. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this thursday, "forbes" magazine has released its annual world's most powerful women list. this year it is topped by german chancellor angela merkel for being the backbone of the european union. number two is dilma rousseff the president of brazil, credited with pulling that country out of its slowest economy in more than a decade. and numbers three four, and five are all americans. melinda gates michelle obama

and hillary clinton. >> bill: the 100 most powerful? >> yes most powerful women. >> bill: do you know who 97 on the list was? >> i do. >> greta van susteren. >> wow. awesome. >> a new study says people are getting dumber. researchers at the university of amsterdam and stanford university say that on average werners have lost -- werners have lost 14 i.q. points since the victorian era likely because of advances in technology and the increasing reliance on machines. >> also doesn't hurt that we had eight years of george w. bush as president. that probably didn't add i.q. points. >> tiger woods tweeted his reaction to sergio garcia's fried chicken comment this week. woods said the comment was not

silly. it was inappropriate. it was hurtful but he's confident there is real regret that sergio made the remark. and in a series of tweets, he went on to say it is time to move on and just talk about golf and play golf. sergio did apologize yesterday. he said he felt sick to his stomach about what he said. he is sorry and he hopes we can move on. >> bill: i think it is time for both sergio and tiger to get back to the game of golf. stop this little -- >> if you can't trash talk without making racist remarks then don't trash talk. other than that, i'm okay with the trash talk. >> bill: i'm okay with taking on tiger woods and not having to worship at the altar of tiger woods but the racist remarks don't cut it, indeed. you know, we're proud to be part of the line-up out in madison wisconsin, on 92.1, the mic. one of the great progressive forces in madison and around the country, progressive magazine. the editor of progressive

magazine, good friend of ours, matt rothschild. hey, matt, good to have you back. >> thanks for having me on again. >> bill: before we talk about this big article you just published here, i noticed in my new york times this morning while i'm having my little breakfast at 4:00 in the morning, full page ad, close guantanamo now. and some very prominent progressives, daniel elseburg oliver stone cornell west signing it and matthew rothschild. what about it? >> what do you know about that? well, i do think it is long pastime that obama shut down guantanamo. he promised to do it first thing he got into the white house and it is still open and it is still a disgrace. he recognized it was a disgrace last time he talked publicly about it let's close it down. it is a terrible blot on our human right's record. >> bill: 16 12350eu6r78 remain

in -- 166 people still remain imprisoned there. they have been released yet they're still there right? >> in holding people indefinitely without charging -- it is against international law. and we shouldn't be doing it. >> bill: against everything we stand for. what about this idea that -- i know, because we keep raising this at the briefings with jay carney, you know, the republican response is well, first of all they've got to move them somewhere. republicans said you can't bring them on the united states territory because we don't have prisons that will hold these people. >> well, right. republicans have tried to tie obama's hands here and there are some things he can do though. he can try to find -- he could just release those who have been found not to have committed any crime or any terrorism and as

you say, there are dozen of these people who are sitting there, declared innocent by our own government. still won't release them. the ones they have questions about, they could find another country to hold them. he needs to shut that thing down. >> bill: absolutely. it has gone on way way much too long. we are finding out about the department of justice -- right on the heels of the department -- stories about the department of justice in their zeal to crack down on leaks, seizes the phone records of the a.p. seizing the e-mails of james rosen fox news reporter. you've written about another government agency, the c.i.a. spying on americans as part of the occupy movement. tell us about that. it is just amazing what's been going on around the country. not so much the c.i.a. as homeland security and state after state. all working together with the private sector. that's the shocking thing about this. to spy on occupy activists -- it

is incredible that they're doing this. they just need to -- we need to take a look at this because what's happened is they're equating activists as terrorists. they're spying on them. they're sending people underground to infiltrate them and then they're saying to the banks, the occupy activists are trying to protest hey, we'll give you any information we need on them. it is not just occupy either, bill. it is the protestors against the american legislative exchange council, alec. in phoenix, for instance, there was a protest that both the occupy people and the protestors against the american legislative exchange council were planning. well, what did the phoenix police department do in coordination with the fusion center in arizona? they said let's get the downtown banks all of the information they need to know about these activists who may be protesting then they actually sent them

what's called a face sheet with the faces and names and identities all the people in their file who had been attending protests. working hand in glove with the people the activists were trying to protest again. who is law enforcement working for here? the taxpayers or the corporations? >> bill: i think it is pretty clear. they're working for the koch brothers right? >> yeah. it is just amazing. >> bill: that's their organization. the koch brothers. they're the funders and the creators and the founders of alec the american legislative exchange council. is this something that went on a couple of years ago when the occupy protests were in full force or still going on? >> well, this is going on while they were in full force and through part of last year and another disturbing part about it is there was real coordination among law enforcement across the country. it is not just a rogue operation in phoenix which is what i focus

my attention on. but there was coordination there was one document. i looked through thousands of documents, the center for media and democracy and dba press had found. and one of the documents says we need to have a -- we're having a teleconference with 13 police agencies around the country about concerns about the growing protests and we've got to come up with some effective strategies to deal with them. and you know, there was a crackdown coordinated crackdown on occupy and why is law enforcement coordinating a crackdown on unlawful protests. the phoenix police department, when i asked them for a comment they were trying to address mitigate and manage the protests. why is it their job to mitigate protests in america? >> bill: yeah, right. what is the role of the department of homeland security here? >> the department of homeland security was setting the whole sucker up. they were funding these fusion centers and these local police departments around the country. and so in phoenix, for instance, the homeland defense bureau of

the phoenix police department had one officer dedicated to tracking the facebook messages of occupy activists. >> bill: good god. wow. >> they were work become the counter-terrorism center and the arizona counter-terrorism center, there are several private sector groups including a private sector group that has 50,000 business peesm working with local fbi agents. >> bill: you know, i wouldn't say i hung out with them but i certainly visited the occupy movement down here at freedom plaza a couple of times right? and attended a couple of meetings down there. i don't remember any record of violence or you know, this was not like the world bank protests out in seattle a few years back. what was the threat? it was basically a nonviolent

protest, wasn't it? >> there was no violent threat as the police officer in phoenix, was monitoring everything on facebook acknowledged in an e-mail there had been no violence and on top of that, there was no terrorism threat. so why are they doing this? it is an amazing diversion of counter-terrorism resources at a time when there were real terrorism threats going on. for instance, boston, the boston police department was spending an inordinate amount of resources as michael is cover reported, an enormous amount of resources attracting activists at a time when they should have had information on the older tsarnaev brother. >> bill: go after the occupy protestors. go after those -- this is just amazing stuff. good work, matt. find him at progressive.org. so is this still going on, do you think? are they still tracking the

leftover occupy people? >> i imagine it is still going on. people need to recognize that if you're at a protest group in a meeting, there is a good chance there is a local police officer or an fbi agent undercover at your meeting. i don't want to make you paranoid. but there was one in phoenix for instance. and he was taking down the agenda items as he was incognito. one of the agenda items that the people had was -- we should try to work better with police and we should make up signs you are one of us. actually, he wasn't one of them. >> bill: whoa. oh, man. blew the whistle on this operation. good work again. thanks so much for your time. good to talk to you. see you out in madison soon. >> thanks, bill. >> bill: matt rothschild, progressive.org. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar.

>>current will let me say anything. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

(vo) current tv is the place for compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things

happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (vo) from the underworld to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv.

>> announcer: like politics? then like the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: steny hoyer the number two ranking democrat in the house of representatives. will join us in the next segment here of the "full court press." we talked yesterday about the recovery efforts out in oklahoma. president obama will be traveling there on sunday to tour the devastated area in moore, oklahoma, particularly with governor mary fallin from oklahoma. and we talked yesterday about building codes and whether or not there may be some requirement in looking forward for safe rooms or basements being -- as part of any new construction. let alone retrofitting those buildings maybe that still survived. and yesterday the mayor of

moore, oklahoma, actually came out and said, as of now it has just been sort of free market, you know, no building restrictions whatsoever. but he is going to try to push for the requirement that there be a safe room in every new home or rebuilt home in moore oklahoma. in the congress, from another tornado-prone area the state of missouri congressman sam graves republican, said this is something that we are looking at particularly schools. >> right now the federal government provides about 7% of the funding to schools but it has never provided capital improvement funding in terms of building or constructing. but i do know it is something that's being looked at. >> bill: it ought to be looked at. as we saw yesterday, the price of a safe room in a house can go anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000. i saw somebody from fema yesterday saying to build a safe

room in an elementary school might cost $600,000 to $1 million. i don't know about you. i think for 500 school kids or 400, whatever it is, i think $1 million, in that tornado area, yeah, i wouldn't -- let tom coburn complain about that. i wouldn't complain about that. i think that's a legitimate expense. it is just unconscionable to build a school or a public building without a room like that. hope it happens. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for

real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: on your radio and

on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: indeed it is. 33 minutes after the hour now. here it is. the "full court press" on this thursday. this thursday, may 23rd. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. brought to you today by the labor's international union of north america the good men and women of the labor's union under president terry o'sullivan, building a better america. that's their web site. check it out. liunabuildsamerica.org. doing some research for a column the other day about the workload of the united states congress. and you hear this phrase do nothing congress. well, the 112th congress, the last two years under john boehner, the least productive, least effective congress probably ever and it looks like this 113th may be on its way to bypassing it. if you want to find out when a congress actually got things

done, you go back to the first two years of the obama administration. nancy pelosi and steny hoyer cracking the whip. that's when we saw things happen. the honorable steny hoyer joins us on our news line this morning. those were the days, right congressman? >> those were the days where we did things substantively. and got america moving again. not as fast as we want because for the last two years as you pointed out we haven't done much. we haven't done much the first six months or five months of this year either. >> bill: the big question is, congressman, we want to know if we're getting our tax dollars worth. have you repealed obamacare again this week? >> not this week. but the house passed it this week, of course. last week. for the 37th time. just to reiterate that -- i know it comes as a shocker that there are some republicans against

giving healthcare to an additional 30 plus million people in america. and they needed to reiterate that one more time. but it is the kind of thing that we're wasting time with. we've spent two and a half years posturing about repeal of obamacare without trying to make sure that obamacare works for all americans. that's a shame. >> bill: also, without the republicans coming up with any alternative, right? >> they have no alternative. they didn't offer any alternative this past week. nor do they have any alternatives. it is simply let the american public fend on its own for its healthcare. that's not the kind of policy i think that's good for our country, good for our growth, good for the health of our people. >> bill: mr. whip, it has been maybe almost a couple of months now since the senate passed a budget with a pretty healthy bipartisan majority over there.

when are we going to see a conference committee between the house and the senate on the budget or will we? >> i don't know that we'll ever see a conference. the reason for that is not withstanding the fact the republicans have been talking about regular order for years and years and years not withstanding the fact that they demand that the senate pass a budget which of course, the senate has done. and that they said that they needed to get a budget so that we could get to a budget deal. both in the senate and the house to go to conference. it is interesting that so many united states senators have been critical of republican refusal. these republican senators, senator john mccain said i'm very much in favor of it. that is going to conference. i think we ought to do it right away and blocking conference is incomprehensible and insane. now coburn, flake, boozman,

portman, have all said that they believe not going to conference is inconsistent with the republican demand for the passage of a budget. and i think that the reason they don't want to go to conference, as a matter of fact, i'm convinced of it is they do not want to debate the substance of their proposal and the draconian cuts that their budget would require. and i think paul ryan, the chairman of the budget committee knows that any agreement that he could reach in conference which is compromise coming together, give or take on both sides if he brought it back to his house of representatives, his members would reject it. >> bill: the essence of the conference committee is to work out some middle ground. >> it is essentially the essence of democracy. it is the essence of what the founding fathers created. two houses.

representatives from all over the country. coming together but understanding in the final analysis, if you want to see positive action, you're going to get that through agreement and compromise and coming together. >> bill: congressman steny hoyer, our guest here on the "full court press" this thursday morning. you can follow all of his good work and the actions of the democrats in the house under his leadership at whiphoyer. congressman, we've been friends for a long time. i'm always proud of your work. i don't think i was ever prouder of you than when you voted against this -- on the sequester now, you voted against this deal which would have -- which carved out a great big exception for the faa. that's not the way to go with the sequester is it? >> no. the sequester is -- the line i used bill is sequester is a word that starts with s which stands for stupid. it is a mindless, common sense-defying policy which says

you cut the highest priority expenditures and the lowest priority expenditures, the same amount. no family would do that. no american business would do that and stay in business. while i argued for is yes, we needed to fix the particular item that was under consideration dealing with the faa but we needed to fix all of it. chris van hollen who you had on earlier has offered four times an amendment which got the same savings, same deficit reduction but did so in a way that every bipartisan group has recommended through a combination of cuts and additional revenues, getting to the same deficit reduction. but the republicans have refused -- no one voted against it. they didn't vote against it. they didn't allow us to vote for it. they refused to allow that to even be considered on the floor of the house. they are committed to this sequester which i said is irrational and it is cutting

highest parties and lowest parties. 70,000 eligible children are going to be kicked off head start. 10,000 teacher's jobs are at risk. four million fewer meals on wheels for seniors. 125,000 less rental vouchers for people who need housing and 2100 fewer food inspectors to make sure that our food is safe and healthy. that's the kind of mindless attention that has not been given, i should say by our republican friends and they not only that, but they refuse to allow any alternatives to be considered on the floor of the house of representatives. >> bill: aren't we leading up to another fiscal crisis, i guess, or fiscal cliff maybe with the debt ceiling? >> the republicans have taken a very ironic position, i think. on the one hand, speaker boehner, majority leader have said defaulting on our debt is

an unacceptable alternative. but then on the other hand, they say they're going to hold hostage, the credit worthiness of the united states of america if we don't do what they want to do. in other words their way or putting america into a place where it's not paying its bills. americans don't believe that's their country. the wealthiest country on the face of the earth pays its bills. maintains its credit worthiness. but we took the republicans took tout brink of de-- took us to the brink of default in august of 2011. for the first time in history we were downgraded. downgraded by just one rating company by one point but rating agencies have now said if we continue along the path that the republicans are pursuing, that we are at risk of being downgraded again. what that will mean, of course, is it will slow the economy undermine the creation of jobs. and ultimately cost every

american more in interest rates and loss of value of retirement funds. so this is a reckless policy that the republicans have been pursuing. we have urged them, take the debt limit off the political screen don't demagogue the debt limit. let's deal with that. let's deal in a conference in the budget with an agreement that gets us to the deficit reduction that we need to pursue while maintaining investments and growing our economy. >> bill: and this is strange. this coming from the party that use to the call itself -- people used to consider at least the party of fiscal responsibility, right? remember those days. >> so ironic that you have almost every republican leader say look, it would be irresponsible for us to default on our debt and turning around in the next breath and saying that if you don't do what we want you to do, we're going to

take us there. makes no sense. >> bill: finally, i gotta say congressman, the state of maryland has really had -- the last year or so has been remarkable progress on a lot of progressive issues. getting rid of the death penalty, recognizing same-sex marriage. reducing the penalties on the use of marijuana. so many across the board -- maryland is showing the way here in many ways. >> bill, one of the things as well, not only did the legislature and governor o'malley initiate those -- saw passage through the general assembly but you know on the dream act that passed -- and on marriage equality. the voters voted on this. people who are opposed to those took them to a referendum. we had a referendum in the last election. the maryland electorate confirmed both of those actions saying yes these are fair. these are dhrb is what america's

about. equality of treatment to all people. about inclusion. and i was very proud of the maryland public, not only of governor o'malley and senator miller and mike bush, the president, speaker of the house but also the maryland public. american people as well. which i think frankly in terms of issues regarding equality for lgbt community lesbians, gay bisexual and transgender the american people have moved faster on this civil rights issue than any civil rights issue i've seen in my lifetime. >> bill: absolutely. you've been working at it a long time. this reflects a lot of your leadership is paying off in the state of maryland. >> thanks, bill. >> bill: we appreciate your leadership and your time this morning. >> thanks for you are why efforts. always good to be with you. >> bill: steny hoyer. >> announcer: this is the "bill

press show."

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: get social with bill press. like us at facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 11 minutes now before the top of the hour. on a thursday morning. may 23rd. back to the news of the day. important speech coming up for president obama today. but first story on identity

theft. this one out of georgia. authorities down there have arrested a woman. they got her at least. charged her with identity theft after she allegedly used an elderly man's personal information to rack up a large credit card debt in his name. they believe they may have uncovered more than -- pardon me 100 victims of identity theft for the activities that this woman alone -- oh, my god identity theft is everywhere. you should be protected against it. i am with lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever offered. but lifelock services can't protect you or your bank account. of course, if you're not a member. visit lifelock.com or give them a call and mention press 10 and you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. number to call 1-800-356-5967

for lifelock ultimate. 1-800-356-5967. >> anthony weener is out on the campaign trail this morning. >> bill: got my vote. >> he's already out there. he rode the subway. >> bill: did he have his clothes on? >> did he have clothes on. he actually was asked by hunter walker from tpm who has been covering anthony weiner for awhile. who's going to manage your social media work? for the campaign. every campaign has to have twitter and facebook and social media. anthony weiner looked at him and just said what is that? he doesn't want to talk about the social media. and if you want to know where he enters the race, the latest poll just came out christine quinn 24%. anthony weiner, 18%. >> bill: i'm amazed it is that high. >> i'm not.

>> bill: but you know what? don't write him off. >> i'm not. >> bill: he's running against the system. against the establishment. everybody is out running the same campaign, getting all of the endorsements they can you know. christine quinn, bill thompson, bill deblaseio who will probably be my candidate. i like anthony weiner. in a crowded field the others running traditional campaigns. he will be the guy -- i got no endorsements. i got -- but i don't owe anybody anything, right? i don't know. big contributors, labor unions, big business, nobody likes me. just you and me. i mean you could run a good campaign on it. >> i actually spent time yesterday looking at some of his speeches from the house floor when he was a congressman. he's dynamite. he's such -- he's dynamite. >> bill: no. yeah. >> he's so good. >> bill: he really is.

let's compare anthony weiner, for example to -- well, another outstanding member of our congress. michele bachmann. i mean this idiot comes out yesterday. she's got the answer now to the i.r.s. scandal. >> my opinion the i.r.s. should be abolished. we need a new tax system. i prefer to see either a straight flat tax or to see a consumption tax known as the fair tax. the i.r.s. has admitted that they targeted opponents of the obama administration, specifically to hurt them. that's what we know. that's what they've already admitted. >> bill: no, no, no. she's such a freaking idiot. first of all whatever the i.r.s. did not defending the i.r.s., they weren't doing it to hurt the organizations. they were doing it to protect taxpayers so we're not giving tax breaks to phony groups like scientology or most of the tea party chapters and the other thing is what she doesn't realize, this dingbat right is even if you go to a flat tax you need an i.r.s. who's going

to get the money? who's going to collect the money and make sure people are paying their flat tax right? hello! hello! does she think everybody is just going to pay their taxes voluntarily? you know what? you need the i.r.s. to crack down on phony clinics like her husband runs out in minnesota. they're the biggest tax cheats around. don't get me started. i will be back with a parting shot. >> announcer: go mobile with bill press. download podcasts at billpressshow.com and listen any time anywhere. this is the "bill press show." compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning

documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (vo) from the underworld to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv.

(vo) current tv gets the >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. you know, president obama as we've been saying is set to deliver a major speech later today on the administration's use of drones. in this continuing war against enemies around the world including american citizens. but in many ways, his speech will be anti-climactic. attorney general eric holder let the cat out of the bag yesterday. holder announces since 2009, the united states has targeted and killed four american citizens overseas with drones. killed either because they were suspected of terrorism or because they just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. but here's the important part. american citizens killed without being formally charged without being -- having a chance to prove their innocence and killed without a trial which every american citizen is guaranteed under our constitution. who knows. maybe they were so dangerous

there was no time for a trial. we just don't know. we don't know what guidelines the administration uses for targeting american citizens with drones. we don't know what guidelines were used in killing an estimated 4700 people with drone attacks. hopefully we're going to get some answers to those questions from president obama today and we deserve them. we'll be back tomorrow and start memorial day with a big celebration of beer tomorrow right here on the "full court press."

[♪ theme music ♪]

>> stephanie: all right. hello, tv land, wow it's comedy royalty today, lewis black and judy gold on the big [♪breaking news theme♪] >> stephanie: jacki schechner wtf with florida. 19-year-old high school student has been arrested after authorities say she bit her boyfriend's penis after she refused to have