tv MSNBC Live MSNBC July 20, 2011 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT
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anything np legislator have to legislative. that's why they get played, to do a job. carrying plaque ards and yelling is spart of the american way. . more politics ahead with al sharpton. have republicans in the house bult bm a cult in don't blame me for saying it. a democratic senator beat me to it. tonight, till no deal and no word on whether john boehner's members even want one. plus, just one year franks bill became law, he is still under fire from big banks. congressman frank is here live. emotional testimony in the senate and calls to repeal the defense of marriage act. welcome to the show, i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead. if washington plays let's make a
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deal, the tea party is still saying my way or the highway. president obama's meeting at the white house with john boehner and eric canton, but house republicans still refuse to budge on any deal to raise the debt limit. they're saying no to the president. they're saying no to the game of six senators. they are even saying no to mitch mcconnell's plan b. today one democratic senator add new word for the tea party's extremism. the cult fringe. >> the debate and fight is not between the democrats and republicans. it is between senate republicans and they are sort of cult fringe as i refer to them, dead beat debtors is what they are. >> joining me is congressman tom reid, first term republican from new york state. congressman, you guys a cult? >> oh, well first of all, thank
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you very much for the opportunity to be on here tonight with you mr. sharpton. >> thank you. >> what i would say is, no. we are serious as the freshman class member of the house of representatives, we are serious about getting our fiscal house in order so we can get this american economy going and bring certainty and confidence back it america and to the private sector. >> as you bring certainty back, you talk about in the balanced budget amendments that went through the house today, cutting $111 billion, is that right? in some of the expenditures you want cut for immediate spending cuts. you want to protect tax breaks for the rich and corporations, cuts up to 20% and social security and medicaid by 2021. i mean, how do you expect to restore balance with shared sacrifice when it seems the rich and corporations are giving up nothing. in fact, they are getting
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something. and you're cutting social security. you cut medicare. you're cutting medicaid. >> i understand your concern but all can i tell is you that that's just not accurate. we put a proposal out of the house, cut cap and balance that we sent to the senate and ask for us to have this debate open and honestly with the american people. we have $14.4 trillion deficit problem. it's time to get serious about it and make sure that this america is here for generations to come. >> that's good talking but let's get to my question. you are saying that the $111 billion of spending cuts is not in the bill? >> well, what i say reverend sharpton is that everyone agrees ppt gang of six, the president himself said in order to get this national debt crisis under control, we have to cut spending. spending is out of control. the pro knoposal -- >> the bills say we want to cut a specific $111 billion. we have a specific bill with a specific number. i'm asking you about the number
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and where you have the cuts in that bill. >> oh, absolutely we have cuts. we have cuts of a hundred plus. gang of six has a hundred billion worth of cuts. the president is talking about $4 trillion deal supposedly that i haven't seen in writing and we would like to see it in writing. those have cuts of $3 trillion. so the bottom line is, to get washington under control, we have to cut the spending. because once we demonstrate to the american world markets that we are serious about getting our fiscal house in order the private sector will invest. u.s. chamber of commerce has a survey, survey of businesses. uncertainty is the number one reason why many businesses are not bringing people back to work. >> but the shared sacrifice, clearly is not in your bill when you finally admit it here, that your bill has $111 billion in cuts but all of the cuts are social security, medicaid, medicare. not on the other side. let me give you an example. . talk about shared sacrifice. look at this gentleman here who
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made $4.9 billion last year. john paulson, hedge fund manager. $4.9 billion. because of tax loop holes he was able to pay on his taxes, not on his earned income, but on capital tax. this man is equivalent to -- 184,000 americans per capita. i mean, how can you look at that and not say there is something imbalanced and just wrong about that, congressman? >> well, that's why from day one, since the freshman class came to washington, d.c. we talked about comprehensive tax reform. closing the loop holes. making sure that everyone pays their fair share. we loord forward to doing that. >> pa that is part of cut, cap an balance and getting into an amendment will force us to get a competitive tax code so the mark set competitive again. >> let me ask you this, are you
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part of those that are saying that you will not vote to lift the debt ceiling unless in fact there is app agreement on the cuts you are talking about in terms of the spending cuts? >> where i'm at is we need to cut spending. we are being honest with the american people because the debt crisis a national security crisis. we need to be honest with the american people. what i'm hoping for, we sent a package out of house to hope the senate has a debate. where you disagree, send it back to us. >> congressman reid, will you vote -- will you vote to raise the debt ceiling without those cuts that you propose being met? >> if we don't deal with the underlying debt by addressing the spending side of the equation we are going to get downgraded on the world market. >> third time, will you -- will you, tom reid, vote to raise the debt ceiling if they do not agree to the spending cuts that you have put in that bill? >> with all due respect,
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reverend, we have two problems. we have a debt ceiling crisis and debt crisis. we have to take both taken care of. >> with all due respect, you didn't answer. let me ask you another question. you got a letter today, a copy of a letter that another president sent in 1983. let me show that you letter in case you didn't have time to read your mail. it called on a raising of the debt ceiling. it is impossible, the letter said, to predict and awesome to contemplate what would happen, assistance and passing and ex techkts debt ceil. sincerely, ronald reagan. does the fact that ronald reagan, someone that i would think you respect and regard, appeal to the congress to deal with the debt ceiling in his time and raise the debt ceiling many times, does that give you
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at least cause it pause and think about what you're doing? >> we absolutely recognize the ramifications of the debt ceiling and default of america's status on its credit. i realize what president reagan was talking about. but the bottom line is, it is time to deal what is causing the crisis and that's the underlying debt. er with putting proposals out there in writing. the president hasn't but a proposal out there in write and the senate hasn't done anything. we are hoping they take up the debate. let's get the debt under control to bring certainty and confidence to america so people can invest and put people back it work. >> well congressman tom reid, i thank you for your time tonight. thank you again. >> thank you. >> democrats have found their voice. listen to this blistering critique from congresswoman jan she could you ski. >> there is something very, very wrong and unamerican with a
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republican proposal that makes it far easier to cut medicare than to cut subsidies for oil and gas companies. easier to cut social security than ask for one penny more from millionaires and billion airs. of course we need to address our economic challenges. but not by holding our country hostage. threat to not pay our bills with catastrophic consequences that will hurt every american in order to push an extreme agenda. >> congressman schakowsky, congresswoman, thank you for being here. >> thank you so much. >> you are very passionate on the floor and let me ask you directly, i had one of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle on and he has a problem with answering direct questions. >> i was listening. >> an amendment bill not likely
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to pass the sin the senate, with $111 billion in cuts, medicaid, medicare, up to 20% in social security by 2021, yet protecting tax breaks for the rich and corporations. is this not an ugly imbalance that they are calling shared sacrifice? >> you know, they talk about, well we have to go after the sacred cows. but clearly some are a lot more sacred than others. they do absolutely nothing to ask for even a hair on the head after billionaire or two be cut. and yet they cut cap and balance. cut medicare or cap medicaid and balance the budget on the back of senior citizens, people with disabilities. and the middle class in our country. i think you know, we have talked about this before, al, that the thing that causes our economic
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stag nation the most is the income in equality. disappearing middle class and jobs deficit that we have in our country. none of which are dealt with in their legislation. in fact, they make the problem worse. >> some democrats are saying that today is the ryan plan on steroids. >> that's exactly right. >> this offers even more cuts. much more like the far right wing republican study committee budget that didn't even pass a house with the republicans voting for it. and so, this is a -- we're in a very dangerous time because people are irrational about the pending crisis. if we don't raise the debt ceiling we'll have this default crisis that will actually jeopardizes checks that go out to our social security recipients, veterans and even the military and their families. we only have 12 days to deal with this and they are going in exactly the wrong direction.
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>> as you say, with the 12 days we are facing, you now have the gang of six coming to proposal. what do you think about that? first of all, do we have time to deal with proposals? we talk about $3.7 trillion in deficit reduction. $1 trillion in revenue, social security and medicare reform. do we have time to deal with that? if not do we do something testimony prayer pri until we get the time? where are you on this congresswoman? >> it seems that the president is willing to give more time as long as the debt ceiling is raised. but i have a lost trouble with the gang of six. they want $500 billion immediately in cuts. one-fifth of that would come from social security. because they want to change the cola and actually reduce it for current beneficiaries. yes, with you mentioned $1 trillion in tax increases, but that would come from cutting key benefits for tax for health
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insurance, credits, for charitable contributions. things that are going to come right out of the middle class. and so, i'm thinking that this proposal still doesn't get it. in fact, it lowers the top tax rate from 35% down to maybe even lower than 29%. and is revenue neutral when it comes to corporate taxes. we know corporations that aren't paying any taxes like ge and getting billions in rebates. so i don't think that this proposal is the kind of balance and fair proposal that we really need. and so i'm very skeptical about it. do we want to reduce our debt? yes. but do we want to did it on the back of the most vulnerable people? >> i think that's the very question and we have to have people that will really answer it and play games with it. because they are talking about real life and real life
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consequences. >> yes. aep in the meantime db -- >> i've got to go. thank you. congresswoman jan schakowsky, thank you for your time. >> thank you, al. >> coming up, republicans playing roulette with people's lives. we will show you how heartless it is. plus, the indefensible defense of marriage act goes to the senate. we are all created equal. now is the time to change. and get this, rush limbaugh thinks the debt deadline is magic. we'll put an end to his conspiracy theory. stay with us.
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>> seven years ago when president bush was in office, republicans voted to raise the debt limit by $800 billion. there was no talk then of tying spending cuts to the debt ceiling. they just did it. today, 130 of those same republicans are still in congress. and now they're demanding a democratic president slash spending before they'll even talk about raising the debt ceiling. so why are they holding the economy hostage new and threatening the income of
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millions of americans? joining me now, a columnist from the nation and msnbc contributor and riz rick lazo founder of ignite with rick lazio.com. thank both of you o for being with you. >> thank you. a bit after reunion for me, rick. >> that's right, melissa. good to see you virtually. >> some call it a reunion, others call it a rematch. melissa, rematch, you know, let me try to say this. you are a very well-respected scholar. but there's a personal side to this. it is not just policy. i think sometimes we miss the human side of this. i happen to know that your mother is on social security and you've been watching her through this crisis. do you mind sharing that with our audience? >> i'm happy to share it. this is what made it personal. i have 40 more years probably of unploimt in front of me.
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as bad as this is, i feel that things will probably work out okay. but today my mother sat at my kitchen table and came it tears because she is absolutely terrified about the idea that her social security might either be cut, you know in the short term, or no cost of living in the long-term. and you know, my mom is a young vibrant 68. but she is living on social security, trying to look forward to the next two decades and really asking the question about whether or not the promises that this government made to her -- promised her and she is feeling like they will default on it. that for me is very painful to to watch my mom feeling that sense of vulnerability. i have just imagine that that is happening at kitchen tables all over the country right now. >> rick, how do you look at someone like melissa's mother, forget the party, forget our
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debates, and say you paid into this, you did the right thing. but we're sorry. but, we're not going to do anything to the guyes flying around in corporate yets. we're not going to close the loop holes. we're not going to deal with corporations not paying their taxes at all. how do you judge what way we make this -- how do we justify this? how do we call this shared sacrifice? >> first of all, my mom also depends on social security. she is a widow. i won't tell you how old she is or i would get a good beating when i went home. but the answer is for people at the lower income levels who truly depend on social security as their primary means of support, that we ought to make sure we have a progressive system in terms of cost of living increases. that's what we're talking about. we're not talking about cutting. we are talking about the increases every year and how those are adjusted. in my view there are two levels of adjustment.
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one for people at the lower end and one for people who really don't, although they have paid into social security, don't rely on it to support themselves. the fact is, reverend, this program, social security, which is a fabulous program and supported many, many seniors, is spending more. we are starting earlier than we thought, spending more, more money going out than coming in. it gets adjusted every so off then. parties come together. there is no reason to demagogue it. you can fix it in a responsible way and make sure that ramp or period of time in which it phases in is so long that people will hardly notice it. >> but the way can you do that is by increasing the debt ceiling. because you are doing better than the first republican i had tonight. you answered half of my questions. you didn't answer the other half. >> let me have it. >> what about telling the guy with the private corporate jet and private corporations that are not doing anything, what about their obligations? you are talking about two tiers of working people and poor
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people. but it is like the rich don't even come into mind with you guys. >> yeah. that's not really true. now, top 5% pays about 65% of the personal income taxes. they are paying more as a percentage of the federal taxes coming into the government than they did several years ago before the so-called bush tax cuts. the problem is here, not so much on the revenue side, it is on the spending side. entitlements growing twice as fast. >> melissa, come on -- >> no, no, i got to say, with all due respect when you say the problem is, that's a falsehood. let's talk about the revenue side. let's just take the notion that taxes are frozen, that republicans are not going to move on this and we cannot raise more revenue by asking for more people to pay their fair sure. there is another way pa that we raise entitlement taxes thap.
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that is by putting people to work. when people are working, young people are working, they are paying into the system. nobody is getting 0u9 the social security they put in. young people working, pay into the social security, that help support today's retirees. what we have in the debt crisis is of course there is no debt crisis. part of the problem here is the language of debt ceiling makes us thinks we are talking about the same thing. the debt ceiling is not a crisis. it is a decision. we are standing in a burning house. the people who have the key to the front door to let us out, instead of simply letting us out of the house as it burns are trying to turn around and make a deal about the terms we are able to walk out of house. that's ridiculous. we must raise the ceiling -- >> we are not in a crisis, the crisis made by extremists in your party that are trying to hold the country hostage. other than that, there wouldn't be a crisis. >> you know, you can pay me now or pay me later.
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can you be portugal or greece, where you have violence in the streets because there is no jobs, capital outflow which is exactly the path that some wro have us on. ignoring the reality that our debt is increasing. with this year alone -- >> the failure to raise the debt ceiling -- >> by a trillion and half dollars. if we would do with barack obama wanted with his first budget submission we have by the end of president obama's first term, we will have accumulated more publicly held debt than all of the former presidents combined from george washington through george bush. >> and this notion that federal debt, in the context of the kind of economic crisis we are in right now, this is a distraction. this deficit hokishness is a decision on the part of the gop to shift us away from the responsibility we all have to one another collectively for the creation of jobs. look, the fact is that when the private sector let us down and they fund nltly did in the 2008 crisis, when the private sector
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crashed behind their own greed, the only responsible party left to begin to create jobs were local, state and federal government. instead of doing so, gops in the states have been shedding state workers, and the federal government has had its hands tied for creating the new sorts of work we need. if people are at work then they pay into the entitlement, even the unfair entitlement system we currently have. making jobs is the issue. >> i totally agree with you. >> we're not talking about jobs. >> you can't send people to create more jobs by raising taxes on them. >> we're not talking about raising. we are talking about restoring -- there sno way you can talk about restoring. >> can i give you a specific idea i think we aught to be thinking about? >> yeah. >> we have between a trillion and $2 trillion. trillion. huge amount of money. parked overseas. they don't pay tax oes not that money until they bring it back
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into the u.s. so what are we telling them to do? build factories and have them overseas. why don't we allow them to bring the man back and hire someone currently unemployed. let's do things that make sense right now. you get a win-win and both sides can say -- >> rick, why don't we restore taxes to where they are be don't raise them, restore them the way they were. we were told in 2001, if we did tax cuts, it was going to create jobs. then again in 2003, we're at 2011, ten years later, it hasn't happened. it t doesn't work, rick. >> after those tax cuts went in rb reverend, we had half of those tax rates. >> we had half because of the surplus economy that your president put us in three wars and we went from surplus under bush -- under clinton and bush brought us into ra deficit. >> we had jobs.
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>> the other piece -- >> we had jobs -- >> the other piece is i think we have an imaginary conversation about what a job is. and we keep demonizing people who are workers. let's take for example, one of the first behavioral patterns op the part of republican governors after the 2010 mid terms when they really ran on this populous sentiment was to come in and start going after government workers. as though government workers are the scary people. do you know who government workers are? they are teachers. they educate the work force for the next generation. instead of doing things like helping teachers, firemen -- we may naid more difficult -- and i say we because of all of the choices made in 2010. >> look at texas -- the states are the growing fastest and creating the most jobs and they have the states with the least taxes. we need a lesson from that. >> i think we need all of the states to go back it taxes when we add surplus in this country
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and created jobs. thank you. >> thank you al. >> thank you melissa. >> we will take a break. thank both of you. as we come back, the latest right wing conspiracy theory. president obama made the debt ceiling deadline for a birthday bash. amazing. coming up, one year ago tomorrow, the dodd-frank bill. terrain in records banks. ever since then, republicans have been on the attack. congressman barney frank. a response to that next.
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the dodd-frank bill was used to bring this country to the verge of financial collapse. kw one year later the republicans are doing all they can to block the law. block the president nominee to head up the consumer protection bureau an agency that protects investors of being starved of funding. one republican house panel voted to cut more than $222.5 million from the sec budget. but even with those odds, we're in good shape.
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thanks to our next guest. joining me now is the driving force between that top legislation and democrat, representative barney frank. mr. chairman thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you al. thanks for the chance to keep the fight up. >> let me ask you, how hard are the republicans when their back is still working to take your law? >> in many ways, they do understand that public is tired of banks doing what they've done. they are not doing it head on. they are not trying a straight out appeal but, as you know, people who think we can continue to spend tens and tens of billions of dollars in iraq and afghanistan, over a hundred million a year, pour be money into corruption that doesn't help. they can't find 150 or 200 million to regulate derivative. today, this afternoon, a few hours ago, they voted in committee and i think people will be astonished by this. to reduce the legal liability we
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try to put on the rating agencies. the rating agents are a big part of this problem. paid by the people who are issuing the security and they gave me outlandishing favorable ratings that turn out to be accurate. we said, if you put a rating into a perspective, if i said to you, sharpton, can you guy this and here is what moody's or standard & poor's said about that, they say no -- >> they just voted to repeal that so you can't vote for having misinformation on that? >> it would be much harder. you have to show, al, that they were knowingly reckless. the fact that they were dead wrong, sloppy, careless and you put your money in and bought something worthless, that won't let you do it. you have to -- go through all kinds of directions. you know, tomorrow, one of the things we did was to say, look, the bank regulators tend to be
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pro bank. that happens when you are working with an industry. we want consumers to have an independent agency and they have done such a great job putting it together so if you have a problem with a bank or financial institution you can go to they'll. this age ensill ban the bad mortgages that got us into so much trouble. that hurt individuals in the economy. tomorrow they will vote on the floor of the house to put the bank regulators back in charge of it. they have a proposal that says that if the bank regulators don't like what the consumer bureau did, they can overrule it. >> so the anniversary of this bill, tomorrow, they are going to go on the floor of the house to say, put the regulators back in charge? >> exactly. and since the bill was to go into effect one year from today because we wanted to make sure we were prepared, they want to strangle this particular infant before it ever gets out of the crib. the reason is this. they understand how populous
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will be. you understand the rhetoric. the government is the source of all evil. we have to cut the government. here is the case. consumer protection with regard it credit cards, overdrafts and mortgages. we are asking an agency to protect consumers against bad practices by some in the private sector. not all bad people but some bad practices. what the right wing is afraid of is they will see that government can be their protector against bad practices in the private sector. they hate that idea and they are trying to kill it before it can happen. >> one of the things that tomorrow's anniversary of you getting this through is so significant, is i mean, almost ininsurmountable odds you went to get it through. then these right-wing verse been so relentless even after you got it through. there is a report they spent like $2.4 billion, in the top six banks on lobbyists just last year alone trying to water this
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down. and one of the investor leaders that j.p. morgan said that they had made a 75% profit going around. of these things. to decline in wages and benefits accounts for 75% increase in profit margins. this is absolutely unthinkable. >> well whab is happening is that they are trying to -- you know, sometimes demagogues are looking for mass hister why here. they are looking for mass attention deficit disorder. you know, last year, we were able to get this through, elizabeth warren was a great leader. we've been able to work with her to get it done, and the day we passed that particular part of it, she said they told me not even to try because the banks always win. but they didn't win today. the crisis was so obvious that for once we had the ability to overcome some of these very rich, very powerful special interests. what the republicans are counting on is that the people
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will have forgotten about the crisis were forgot where we were. by wait, george bush's people came and said the economy is about to collapse. and something barack obama invented -- the republican people have forgotten, we don't think they have. with the people here trying to make it harder to sue an agency when they have been wrong or putting the bank regulators back in charge of the consumer bureau or as they are trying to do now, denying money to the two agencies that are supposed to stop speculation in oil which drives up the price that public is not going to forget, they will remember. >> wep thank you mr. chairman for your time. keep up the fight, and i know you will. >> i do, al, thank you. ahead, the latest right wing conspiracy theory. president obama made up the debt ceiling deadline for a birthday bash. i have something to say on that one, next. third time i've call, it's time i speak with a supervisor.
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the recess has been tough for everyone and state governments have been forced to make hard choices. in alabama governor robert bentley cut education funds and decimated budgets for parks and historic sites. but he hasn't touched the confederate memorial park in mountain creek. it's in tip top shape with a $400,000 budget funded entirely by something called the confederate tax. the associated press reports the tax originally funded a pension plan and nursing home for confederate veterans. but alabama's last confederate veteran passed away more than 75 years ago. so today that tax makes sure this alabama park covered in confederate flags is the best kept in the state.
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at 12:01 sunday new york legalizes gay marriage making it the sixth state in the nation to do so. now, more than 50,000 to 80,000 of same sex married couples in the united states still don't recognize a single one of those, why? because of the defense of marriage act. this denies the same rights of same-sex couples enjoyed by other married couples. today a panel described the terrible affects. >> four months ago, tom corolla, my husband and partner of 58
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years died of leukemia. beyond the emptiness, my life has been thrown into financial turmoil for doma. social security allowes a widow or widowsor claim their own benefit or benefit amount of their deceased spouse, whichever is higher. yet i cannot depend on this benefit after 58 years of my spouse simply because of doma. this is unfair. this is unjust. >> so are we at turning point in this debate. will the federal government see the validity of same-sex marria marriage? one of those advocating -- congressman studs passed away and now says he has been
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discriminated against because of doma. he is one of 17 plaintiffs in massachusetts suing the constitutionality of doma. also joining us is msnbc political analyst richard wolff. let me start with you, dean. tell us what you have gone through and why you are pla plfa planetive in this lawsuit. >> thank you. i think this shows how the defensive marriage act hurts families. 15 years ago when i sat in the visitor's gallery at the house of representatives and watched the man who is to become my husband speak out against it, it was very theoretical. i don't think gary or i ever expected at that point, that we would ever be able to be legally married anywhere within the united states. it did happen eight year later and we got married a week after marriage was legalized the
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common wealth of massachusetts. it was a decision that the courts made but obviously the people have also now agreed with it. i am being denied the benefits that any other person who has served this government for 24 years as a federal employee, in gary's instance, a member of congress, spousal benefits and health insurance. the same people are talking about the same issues 15 years ago except now there are real families and real people like myself being hurt. >> you brought a face on it, as you do, and as the witness today that we saw. richard, a lot of attitudes have changed. let's look at the polls and how it has gone in 1996, 27% of those polls favored people of same-sex marriage. and today, 53%, it's been a real shift over 50% of those polled are now saying people have the right to make their own choice
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in marriage. >> right. reverend al, a lot of that switch over just happened in the last couple of years. what's ironic is that, what we have seen as the scare tactics in the republican side have not come to pass and in fact has been more reassuring for general voters and americans across the country to say more same-sex marriage. it has become less threatening. i remember in 2004, there was all this talk about anti-same-sex marriage for balance around the state. for start, for people like karl rove, the idea is this will boost turn out. they found no increase of turn out. instead of shocking voters reacting against same-sex marriage, we have seen the reverse. they have become more reassured. there is one group of voters rejecting and that is republicans. democrats, independents are around that 50% in support.
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>> this is not an issue of about which someone agrees or disagrees or moral or religious position. this is where you legally in a state, married, build things together, share things together but has denied you like any other married couple because of this med ral law. you are in fact financially and otherwise impacted by this law on something you legally did and built together. >> i think that if we look at the definition of family, i think we -- unfortunately they don't even want to accept that two people who want to spend their life together, be it 15 years in my instance or 50 years, that there is any validity. but as families, yes, we look at many decisiones from the financial aspect of it. and because the defensive
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marriage act aefr because of the impact of federal law, on many aspect of finance, you're kind of starting at a disadvantage as it becomes very evident that government sees you as a second class citizen and that you know firsthand what discrimination is like. because somebody else, but for the fact you are of the same sex, would have a much different situation. >> dean hara and richard wolffe, thank you both for your time this evening. >> thank you. >> the right wing has a new way to blame the president. attack him for his birthday party. that's next. [ male announcer ] this...is the network --
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missing his birthday party. that's our con job of the day. the president says the country is missing social security payments. if congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling by august 2nd. but texas republican, lou thinks there's a secret behind the deadline. >> we found out the president has a big birthday bash scheduled for august 3rd. celebrities flying in from all over. low and behold, august 2nd is the deadline for getting something done so that he can have this massive, maybe the biggest fund-raising, dinner in history for a birthday celebration. >> america, rest easy. congressman is on the case and he is not the only one. here is fox aeb friend steve doucie.
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>> the august 2nd deadline the president talks about as armageddon, he has a birthday blow out for the very next day. >> but even only rush limbaugh could make it even more offensive territory. >> so obama is out there pushing this august 27b deadline to get this thing done. that's because ramadan starts august 1st. now these guys won't trust tim geithner's talks about the deadline because he works for obama. same with ben bernanke. he is worried about an invite for the birthday bash. you would think they trust a certain republican deep thinking from wisconsin. >> august 2nd is not a drop dead date by any means, is it? >> it's a date, right around that day or so. we think there may be a few more days. >> oh, no, paul ryan is in on it too. he must be invited to the
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