's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express. good morning from new york, i'm chris hayes. voters in greece are headed to the polls today for a crucial election that could determine that country's future in the euro zone. syrian opposition groups are urging the united nations to send armed peacekeepers to that country after they suspended their work there due to intensifying violence. congressman steve kohn, democrat from tennessee, former president of the conservative independent women's forum, "rolling stone" contributing michael hastings

and esther armor host of "wake up call." >> in dueling speeches on thursday afternoon, mitt romney issued debt and euro and big debt and president obama made his own ideological case that romney and the gop regime are so extreme they have economic norms. >> there have been fierce arguments throughout our history between both parties about the exact size and role of government. some honest disagreements. but in the decades after world war ii, there was a general consensus that the market couldn't solve all of our problems on its own. it's this vision that democrats and republicans used to share that mr. romney and the current republican congress have rejected in favor of a no holds barred, government is the enemy, market is everything approach. >> president sent out to define

what this approach would look like. trillions of tax cuts for the wealthy and millions of americans losing their health care and told voters if they liked what they heard, to cast their ballot for romney and the gop agenda. >> you should take them at their word and they will take america down this path. and mr. romney is qualified to deliver on that plan. no, he is. i'm giving you an honest presentation of what he's proposing. i'm looking forward to the press following up. and making sure that you know i'm not exaggerating. >> so, i thought the speech was interesting because it came, those two speeches came in a week where i thought two things kind of happening in the campaign this week. one was earlier in the week, there was this panic button that

was being pressed. it's going off the rails and a few worrying poll numbers out there. and nate silver had this hilarious tweet about making fun of the different polling that was happening. he said, obama support cratered among elderly, gay, hispanic jews in the latest tracking poll. just to put this to rest in terms of the button being pushed. it's the tracking poll on april 15th to june 15th. if we can show that for a second. as you can see, that is -- >> it's flatline. >> it's essentially dead heat. it's basically a 50/50 nation at this point. and, barring some huge shock that comes to the system from outside. it's this, we're going to grind it out. that to me, that put us all on the staff that put us all in mind of this classic image that

i have to show. this was an image that was created in 2008 when in the midst of the republican convention and sarah palin being named and there was a period where john mccain was polling ahead of barack obama. and there was just this wave of commentary from democrats who were just like heading for the life rafts like jumping off the ship. just totalpanic everywhere and they made this now iconic message. i know staffers orn the campaign that have that up on their desk. we blurred out the obvious there. >> are you suggesting the media is pushing the panic button and creating a false that doesn't exist? >> i'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this, steve, because it's a long campaign. the fundamentals aren't going to change that much.

not a lot to cover in certain ways. but i do think that the panic that we saw a little bit earlier this week speeems to me part of the disposition to start going to the press with off the record quotes with, oh, we're doing it wrong. >> there may be some truth to that, and i was taught early and elections are won in the last ten days. maybe that's spread out some in a national campaign and with social media and all, but it's towards the end. so many things that could affect this election in europe. the president was responsible for the price of gas, if you listen to the congress two months ago. when gas goes down, the president had nothing to do with it. >> michael, you have been covering the campaign and the other thing that happened to me this week. ryan published this big piece in "new yorker" and part of the speech was laying out the second term and laying out a vision for the future. how, how much is that an

intentional strategic choice because they can't, they understand they cannot affect the economy between now and election day. >> well, look, i think that piece is essentially a way to make the case for an obama second term. that's what it's laying out. over the past 48 hours we've been on the phone with some of the folks on the obama campaign and i have to say, they do not necessarily appreciate all the feedback they're getting from clintonland. i said to them, look, in 10, 20 years you guys will be doing this. look, i think that in terms of ryan's piece of laying out this vision for the second term, you have the environmental issue that is going to be key and also on the foreign policy side because presidents have most control over their foreign policy and in the second term lay out sort of this grand, strategic vision and deal more with china and issues like that and getting sight of these

ground wars and some of this is robust, the way to make the second term in a very clever way. >> the speech on thursday and i think the focus down the stretch, right, is on the economy. the ohio speech basically said, yeah, he literally said something like, yes, social issues are important. yes, foreign policy is important. but, the core of this is going to be the economy. >> one thing i found fascinating about the piece in "the new yorker" and about the president's speech is that, i mean, it makes the case for what the country may look like in an obama second term. i think it's essential to do that because right now the president having a great deal of difficulty, obviously, with the republican government, divided government in turning the economy around and getting legislation passed. the only thing he can talk about is for every single human being, every person who lives in the country regardless of race, gender, ethnicity. here's why you're so important. here's what i'm going to do.

here's what my legacy is. a way to get his base excited, again. >> he needs to get his base to realize it is more than obama. he needs to have speaker pelosi. >> i'm so glad you said that. a line in the speech where he said, we have a stalemate and this is your chance to break the stale mite. it is only true if you don't re-create the positions of the current government. because then you have more stalemate. and i think that's the interesting thing, to lay out a vision of what a second term looks like is highly contingent on the republican and -- >> exactly. also saying, don't hold the next five months against me. whatever happens at the end of the summer, don't hold that against me. >> i think it's also about very specifically a battle that is ideology versus the record. we're in this moment where this economic record, which may be getting better slowly, but the last figures don't look so good when it comes to the jobs'

numbers mean that. the ideology going back to the 2008 campaign is the way to move it in the right direction. i think the obama administration understands that the record cannot do it and that romney and the republicans can beat them up every single time and also when it comes to ideology, obama can fairly argue that the republicans are in this intimate relationship with paralysis that affects every single one of you watching this. if you think you're going to stand on the sidelines, you're in the same relationship and paralysis as the romney. >> the economy is the bush economy. it's bush and the republicans who ruin this economy and romney is a replay of that. the president says if you like what you had then -- >> i think part of the challenge has been, although the political paralysis has been on the side of the republicans, the people blame the democrats and the obama administration for failing to act more aggressively to overcome. >> i think it's like men in black and you have to not erase

their memories. you have to remember, it was bush. >> that's a good point. well, i would push back on that a little bit because we've seen polling that it remains the case that a majority of people blaming bush for the state of the economy, that's come down over time. which one would assume. it's both. not a zero sum of blame. people are frustrated, they can hand out the blame cards to everyone. in fact, what you see is people are not very happy with congress. right? they really dislike congress and the president is battling right around 50% and they also think bush was the worst president in recent memory. so, there is blame to gearound. >> it's sort of like we're really sick of all of you. >> that's the danger. >> that's the danger and the other danger for the president, this campaign season, it's very difficult to explain to the american public how much worst things can be. >> the counterfactual argument. how the economic record cuts both ways for congress and for republican governors after we

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talking about the president's speech on thursday and mitt romney's speech on thursday and the vision for the campaign at this moment in terms of moving the folks to the second term. a vision for a second term and, congressman, here's something i would like you to address, which is, one of the things that has broken down in the normal mechanics of democratic accountability under the lock step republican house is that you have saens that sure there is an incentive to ubtrukt the president but deliver something in terms of tangible goods because you, yourself, has to stand for re-election. every member of congress has to go home in the house and run for

re-election. if things are really terrible, presumably, you're worried about holding accountable for that. convince their voters when they have to go back to their districts in the next six months. they're not held accountable for the same problems they're blaming on the president. >> a lot of districts are determined in the primaries and the republican primary doing nothing is wonderful. so those people will be okay and the people that like the tea party people, those folks like doing nothing. the concern they should have and people will see, like orangesteen's recent book, it's the republicans causing the problems. it's not democrat -- it's the republicans. they're going to be blamed more than the democrats and i think they're coming around some. >> but what i'm hearing from you is the nature of jerry mandering means they have to worry about

tea party insurgents but enough swing districts that congress changed hands in the span of 2006, 2010. someone has to worry about getting re-elected. that political gravity is being defied. >> a lot of the tea party people are first-time people in government and they're not thinking the traditional way. compromise and make things work because they don't want to, they're idelogs. >> is there a space then, does that open up space for competitive -- >> well, i think it does. the democrats can take back the congress a limited number of seats because of redistricting. i think there's a chance we can get it back and you saw barber, gabby's aide win in arizona. i think the people will say we want to keep social security as we know it and medicaid as we know it.

george romney is -- >> mitt romney. >> mitt romney. >> george romney wouldn't actually be too bad. let's be heclear here. >> save the automobile industry. >> explain this reference to our viewers. >> well, there was this great movie that's probably still around called "animal house" and needer miler was the elitist kind of uptight conservative guy that is the typical stereotype. >> i think your audience is familiar with "animal house." >> my observation is for many republicans in congress right now, they actually feel like they are doing something and in the sense by obstructing everything that the president wants to do, even at the risk of destroying the economic law being of the country that they are delivering for their district. it won't be until they succeed

in destroying the economy that they get put out of office. that's the problem. >> it goes to your men in black, the ability to raise memory and literally recreate the record because paralysis has been effective in so far as it has definitely created, to some extent, a feeling that there is an impotence among the democrats. the tightness of the polling reflects that to some degree. paralysis is not an action. that's a strategy, as well. whether or not it's a winning strategy is a whole other conversation. the question to how far they can take it. i look at wisconsin and what happened there. even though it was a historical recall vote. the way the republicans will fly into action reveals that that paralysis has an end game and they're able and willing and ready to move when they need to. >> the other waethe economic record cuts in different directions. the recovery, which i don't think there's a person. it's hard to find a person in the country who thinks the economy is just going awesome

right now and that we just can call it a win and walk away. but the recovery is very unevenly distributed geographically and a really interesting article in "wall street journal" on how this creates personal dynamics in states where you have a strong recovery happening in ohio that john kasich wants to take credit for and strong happening in virginia where bob mcdonald is running ad as saying, things are going really well. then the question is, at the same time, you have john kasich saying things in ohio are looking up and mitt romney comes to the state to say, everything is terrible. >> romney is trying to convince people that it's not going that well because that helps him. back to the obama campaign and the central tension we're going to see play out over the next few months. it's managing expectations about the economy. this is where the criticism comes from and people who are very strong obama allies have been saying this past for the past few weeks.

they're going to set themselves up in case things go badly. >> i think they learned that lesson. one thing that is is interesting about this recovery or nonrecovery or ambling along has happened. a number of moments where it looked like we were about to escape and there is a recovery spring and there was, even this winter looked quite good, actually. i was saying on this program, it looked like really started to take off. i think they've learned their lesson. i want to read a quote from an obama, a top obama strategist that made me absolutely panicked about what the white house has learned about the republican congress, right after this break. nicholas brand of seattle wanted to start a window washing business. to stand out, he wore a scottish kilt his wife made for him and called the company men in kilts

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let's shoot for the stars. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. welcome back. i had not mentioned it is father's day. happy father's day to all the fathers out there. dad, we'll hang out later. so, this is the quote. i just said there is a quote

that i read. a really interesting piece, brian is a great reporter and always delivers very in-depth looks at what's going on behind the scenes. david plouffe talking about exactly what we were discussing. the presidential election but, of course, congress and the consequences of divided government and a republican party that is implacably committed to destroying the president and blocking any possible chance at any improvement or compromise, et cetera. david plouffe says if both chambers are more evenly divided, a recipe for getting some things done. because of the clotheness, neither party will be able to do anything on its own so zero gets done for two year s or there ar a center. congressman, you work in congress. does that strike you as completely out of touch of the reality of what the -- it seems to me they still have not

grasped the nature of the opposition. >> i think you're right because the republicans want to aid what mcconnell said, they want to beat this president. they want to destroy all the regulations that control the financial markets and the regulations that give you clean water and clean air and a chance to breathe. they want totally free market and they don't care about it and they want to get rid of the inheritance tax. they want the rich to become richer and the -- >> but, wait a second. it's not even that. those are affirmative visions. that, you know, it's one thing to have an affirmative vision and mitt romney laid out his budget and whatever. right now what we're seeing a party line opposition to anything getting done that could possibly improve the economy in the short term. so, just from the perspective economic management and cutting some grand bargain on the budget for years to go out -- >> but that quote shows that as much as the republicans are in this intimate relationship with paralysis, the democrats are in a relationship with dilution.

>> they're not understanding it. >> david plouffe is deeply involved in the madgement of this second term in the campaign. and to be so off base and so far away from the reality of what has happened -- >> away from the reality of congress, but not away from the reality of trying to get that small, independent vote that wants to think that we need to work with both sides. >> the question is, does he believe this? >> i'm talking all the time and all they say is, privately, the republicans are obstructionists, we can't work with them. trying to defeat everything the president is trying to do. a quote like that and a major piece of magazine journalism, a bit of the wishful thinking and this is a campaign improved hope kind of quote. >> let's remember one of the first press conferences that the president gave after republicans took the house and mark who is in with "the atlantic" said there is this debt ceiling that you're going to hit later this

year and how is that going to work? are you going to be able to get the republican votes for that? the president said and looked in the face and said, i think they're going to have responsibility. having actual power is going to change them and they will not recklessly drive the car off the cliff. fast forward six months and the entire nation in the car as it speeds towards the cliff. and i think that, you know, that ceiling moment, i thought would open everybody's eyes about what the nature of this dynamic is. i will say this, not a member of the republican party per se sitting at the table. they are pursuing a vision that i think is the detriment to the country. but i'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and think they think it is better in the long run because barack obama is so bad. they are pursuing it with total discipline and zealousness. >> i don't think we should underestimate the republicans' commitment to the reality of what it is to win, not just about the destruction of thelm

president obama himself. part of it is personal. it is not that they don't accept that the strategy they're pursuing is not to the detriment of the country, but the reality is, they're offsetting that. this means we're going to win. no way that we will not stray off that course. >> but you have to sit back and ask yourself. a reasonable person has to ask -- >> this is not reasonable, this is about winning. >> true. also about a party now where you're called a moderate, that's a bad thing. how do you win if you disenfranchise african-americans and you attack women and you attack hispanics and you attack most of the country as we know it today and you say to yourself, this is a winning strategy. >> well, i mean -- >> it makes no sense. >> yet, we see what the tracking polls is are. polarization. it continues to be the fact that there isn't a lot of space left over to battle for the mythical

swing voter and the unicorn. >> that will socialize very specifically that the republicans understand we're not willing to confront and that is the fact that the polls are so tight when you said everything is true means there is something else that the republicans are willing to explore that we're not facing. you wage a war against women the way the republicans have. when you are literally creating this assault against the voting rights act which is disenfranchising american and you are against all of those things. those polls were in a dead heat. how is that possible with those truths? >> let me say one thing and then you cued up something very nicely which we're going to talk about next. it's not, let's just be clear here. disenfranchising is a rational, odious way of strategy for the republicans to pursue. i mean, we know one of the bed

rock facts about american politics is that particularly in the era of obama americans will vote 9-1 for the president and against republicans. so, if you could take voters like that off the table in a swing state like florida and get 10,000, 20,000 of those voters to not show up, it's reprehensible from what we believe about equality and democracy and self-governance but morally as a strategy, it's not a dumb strategy. let's be clear. >> the democrats then need an equally strong strategy to reach out to all of these groups to say in their vision for the future of america, you don't count. you mean zero. >> right. but i think a lot of that, i guess that point that pie has already been sliced. you know what i mean, people had sort of figured out what team they're on and that's why this election is 2000 all over again.

up at 5:00 in the morning and nine votes in some county and one of the -- the only place that i think there is some wiggle room is one of the big places there is wiggle room is among latino and hispanic voters and that brings us to the game changing moment for president obama on immigration this week, right after this. i've always looked up to my brother. he doesn't look like a heart attack patient. i was teaching a martial arts class and it hit me. we get to the emergency room... and then...and then they just wheeled him away. i had to come to that realization that "wow, i am having a heart attack." i can't punch this away. i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to you doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a fighter and nowadays i don't have that fear. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook.

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and see what happens when we put those tools to work for us. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get this ryobi 18-volt drill kit for the new lower price of just $69. big policy change announced by president obama on friday. huge news will allow undocumented immigrants who are brought to the united states as children to remain in the country, unlike the original dream act, legislation that i remember covering back in 2002 it was introduced in 2001. the president's new policy does not award permanent legal status. here's how he described it. >> effective immediately, the department of homeland security is taking steps to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people. over the next few months,

eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for work authorization. now, let's be clear, this is not amnesty, this is not immunity. >> he's right. because the president cannot award citizenship to thousands without congress' approval. well, president obama has put forth what is essentially a watered down version of the dream act and it is also not coincidentally very similar to the plan florida republican senator marco rubio is proposing. >> the plan would award the kids that meet a certain criteria and got here by a certain age and lived here and graduated from high school and don't want a criminal record and get in essence a student visa and after work visa and after some period of time, probably ten years.

we would then allow them to access the immigration system. >> but the president in effect calling republicans bluff on this issue, mitt romney was left to twist and dodge and other republicans tried to attack the president while being careful not to actually attack the substance of the policy. senator john mccain accused the president of adding confusion and uncertainty to the issue and senator chuck grassley said the president's action is a front to representative government, unquote. joining us now, an undocumented immigrant on the committee united we dream and also a recent college graduate. great to have you back. >> great to be here. >> we had you here, i think about a month and a half ago at the table. you had actually just met with marco rubio and this was in a political context in which we saw some of the rhetoric on the republican side on the primary. let me give a little look at what that rhetoric was sounding

like in the republican primary. here's mitt romney talking about immigration on the campaign trail. >> amnesty is a magnet. wh when we have had in the past programs that people who are here legally get to stay legally for the rest of their life only encourage people to come in legally. we have to stop illegal immigration. that means turning off in-state tuition for illegal aliens and employers that knowingly hire people that come here illegally. it is bringing in people who in some cases can be terrorists and other cases they become burden on our society and have immigration laws that protect our border. >> right, you're making notes about being a burden on society. >> i'm wondering how he defines that. >> what is interesting, that was the rhetoric during the primary and you don't see that rhetoric any more. you see marco rubio saying, meeting with you and fellow advocates say, well, maybe we can find some compromise and

then this huge announcement yesterday that did not precipitate a big republican backlash. what does that say to you about where the conversation has moved? >> i think we're in a completely different place in this country. so, ithings have happened that led to this moment. it's important to recognize the role that senator rubio had played. and i think the country is finally recognizing the presence of dream youth, the contributions that we have made and the contributions that we made to execute our professional degrees. >> i want you to talk about the movement that you have been part of and helped put together and walk us through the arc of this administration which began with doubling down on enforcement, record deportations and has moved steadily in a direction that has culminated, for now, with friday's announcement. how do we get from there to here? >> it's been a long journey.

there's a sense that, you know, this just happened all of a sudden out of no where. this has been years of work by people who have done it before i got onboard. the trail of dream s early on i 2010 where they walked from florida to washington, d.c. to deliver this message. not even the dream act, but -- >> would be eligible. >> exactly, exactly. since then and i mean, i think we realize at the end of 2010 that people weren't ready for this. america was ready for this, but congress wasn't ready to act. not ready, but they were unwilling to act. i think it's important to say that. fell five votes short of passing. so, we had to figure out what can actually happen in this country and what do we do to make it happen. and that's where we said, the executive has the legal authority to do what we're asking him to do. >> there was a change of strategy from a congressional

strategy to executive strategy? >> absolutely. for us, you know, the only, a permanent solution can only be achieved in congress. we're committed to making that happen, but in the meantime, in the interim, the president can act. he's done his job. you know, him speaking on friday, that was huge. and now he just has to implement this fully the way that he's described it. >> i want to talk about the implementation and talk about the previous attempt to implement a similar policy, which did not work very well and what separates this and we'll also talk to a member of congress who has been at the forefront of pushing for not only the dream act, but comprehensive immigration reform, right after this. [ male announcer ] this is the at&t network... a living breathing intelligence bringing people together to bring new ideas to life. look. it's so simple. [ male announcer ] in here, the right minds from inside and outside the company come together to work on an idea. adding to it from the road, improving it in the cloud

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maybe even graduated at the top of your class only to suddenly face the threat of deportation to a country that you know nothing about. with the language that you may not even speak. >> that's the president making the empthetic case for why this is just right thing to do. of course, those deportations were happening under his watch and accelerated. that is where this started in terms of the obama administration and we ended up here, you talked about the strategy of people pushing for the dream act, changing from congress to the president. when you made that strategic shift, how did you try to apply that pressure and to push for this? >> i think we had done that last year and then it didn't, it wasn't until this year, the beginning of this year we said, okay, we need to redefine what we're doing plus antonio vargas' writing has helped us and opened up and shifted the narrative in this country in many ways. once we decided to develop an

internal and external strategy, we had a national day of action may 17th. we were making this an issue. we were raising awareness about this. internally, we were also meeting with white house officials with senator rubio and with many folks and it's important to say that i think a big turning point was when 96 professors, the brightest legal minds in this country wrote a letter to president obama saying you have the legal authority to do this. there was no longer a question about the legal objection here. >> i want to bring in congressman louis gutierrez. a democrat from illinois who has been incredibly active on this issue for a long time, since i covered him back in chicago. great to have you. >> pleasure to be with you, chris, this morning. >> i want to get your reaction to the president's announcement on friday. both, what it means for people and what it means politically and what it means for the prospects of actual, congressional action on this

going forward. >> first of all, i want to congratulate the president of the united states for taking this step. i know he didn't want to do it. i know that his friends, his allies, people who care a great deal about his success because we believe that his success is america's success engaged him, forcefully, in a conversation and in a dialogue and in the end he sided with us. that sometimes is not very easily done. we met with him in december of 2010. and i do want to put this in perspective. we passed the dream act in the house of representatives. 216-198. eight republicans joined 208 democrats. you know what, 51 democratic senators two weeks later in the senate said we're for the dream act with four republicans. they stopped it from happening. so, i think we need to put it in

perspective and then we met with the president just days before christmas in 2010 and the president said to us, i'm going to take steps to protect the immigrant community from an executive, but we need to discuss that. we took the memorandum to the president in february of 2011. we said you have the executive authority. we had three general councils of the ims, background. the president has from a legislative point of view, since 1997, the immigration reform, that the authority to do this. and, so, we said, mr. president, use it. if you remember last august, he issued his memorandum for discretion. many dreamers, their deportations were canceled on the basis of that. but, you know what, many were still being caught up in the immigration system. millions of american citizen children, their parents were being deported and separated and they had no criminal background

and we needed to fix this immigration. so, we continue to engage this president. i mean, senator durbin and the problem many times in understanding how it is something arise before the public is that, you know, we engage the president privately. we engage the president many times quietly. and many times i haven't done it quietly. but, in this case, we said, you know what we think is important is to reach the goal. and, so, i just want to say that, you know, we had to meet with janet napolitano. i mean, there were those of us who were this close, chris, to simply asking for her resignation. senator bob mu nendous and senator durbin and the kind of work they did needs to be heralded and needs to be acknowledged in this process. so, i'm very proud to be part of a process that has begun over ten years ago to bring about comprehensive immigration reform and to say this is important.

let me just try to suggest to you from the immigrant community's perspective, immigration reform is a human right struggle, a civil right struggle. i want you to think in 60 days when the dream students, 800,000 strong are going to be able to apply for work visa. it's like 800,000 gay men and women being able to get married. or 800,000 african-americans finally being able to vote. it's going to be significant and i want to thank the president for taking that kind of step forward. >> congressman, i want you to stay with us because we're not only going to talk about what produced friday, but where we go from here. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from.

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very loud conversations happening outside the white house. were there people telling you to back off when you started -- >> absolutely. i would say even many progressives were telling us, don't do this, it's an important year and you don't want to put the spotlight on the president. we were saying we don't work for president obama or the democrats or the republicans. we have a responsibility to our community and there's an opportunity here. the president should be doing his job and we're going to go after that. >> the irony, of course, is that in pushing the president to make this decision, congressman, what you saw from the republican reaction says a lot to me about actually, this not just being the right policy on the merits, but being the right policy politically. because the reaction gives it away in that sense. >> it does, chris. let me suggest to you that

getting arrested in front of the white house two years in a row after we worked so hard to elect this president was not easy, but it was important. not just i, but many activists for the last three and a half years have been around this country challenging this president. let me just say the action he took from a person who has been very critical of this president and has publicly stated this, that the action he took is significant and meaningful and it is already beginning from the moment he made that announcement to heal the kind of between a huge latino community that came out in gang busters in 2008 to help elect him president and moving forward. and, yes, you see the republicans. so, now you see this very stark contrast, one that we wanted. what did latinos want? they wanted him to fight and they wanted to shine a light on injustness and fairness and be

our champion. what he did on friday was, i'm your champion. it may come a little later than you wanted, but he is our champion and that's what people wanted to see him do. mitt romney that the dreamers should simply self-deport and he would veto the dream act and a barack obama who is saying, i will use the authority that i have as president to make sure you can stay here because what we have to do is stop the deportation because this will allow us to incorporate. don't think that after we pass comprehensive immigration reform, which we will do eventually. we were just kidding, come on back. once you are deported. you are basically gone from the system. >> in some ways the irony of this whole thing, i think from talking to folks around the white house and some of the advocates, also, the white house thought that the increasing of deportation doubling down in enforcement was going to create the political space to move things through congress. he said to congress, i've gotten

tough on immigration, so, now we can have this conversation, but, of course, that was not how it played out. >> it wasn't how it played out, but republicans don't want to see action. in 2004, i and senator mccain and senator kennedy introduced comprehensive, it was bipartisan, it was bicameral and my colleague, congressman blake, was the co-sponsor with me. we did it together in the house. it was blake, gutierrez and when we took over the majority it was gutierrez/blake and now congressman blake is out there in arizonacome paining as though that never happened. he would like nothing better than me to go denounce him. >> congressman, you should -- >> you have to understand, we no longer have that partnership. so, the president had to act because congress would not. >> congressman, i want you to stick around because i want to talk about the possibility of this being something that happens in the second term and there is a really interesting quote that was given in an

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well, from new york i'm chris hayes. with me, democratic congressman steve kohn of tennessee. lelioa from connecticut studen' for a dream and we also have congressman luis gutierrez live in chicago. i wanted you to explain a little bit, we don't have to get too into the weeds of how, this is not an executive order, we should mention. that was being reported as an executive order. >> it is not. >> cabinet level directive that comes from janet napolitano and it is an update. it is different than the memo of

proscatorial discretion, which was issued earlier this year which was us basically saying, hey, frontline immigration workers who we should go after and who we shouldn't. these are the metrics you should use to decide if it's a smart use of the government resources to go after person "a," for instance, and it basically said, look, if you have someone in your circumstance, a dreamer, don't deport them. and that was insufficient. right? a lot of problem at the ground level getting that to flow through the bureaucracy and be implemented. how did this announcement on friday differ and what difference is it making in the lives of folks right now? >> this is a class basis of deferred action, basically. discretionary determination. >> what does that mean? >> that basically means it's a stop gap measure. it's a temporary relief for a specific group of folks. >> the point is, the assumption

is anyone who meets the criteria, they can actually affirmative apply. that's the key difference, right? not that you just have to sit and hope there is no knock on the door. they can affirmatively apply and get immigration papers that allow them to stay in the country lisly, even if it's not citizenship. >> this does not count for someone's lawful status. but, what it does, it protects someone. it protects this category of individuals from being deported from living a life in fear and from being able to live their lives fully. so, this is huge for people, for the dreamers who have been fighting for this, the president is exercising, finally, exercising his discretionary authority. >> michael? >> i mean stepping back, obviously, there's lives at stake and, you know, obviously these policies very critical for how this plays out for a generation of undocumented workers, but as the kind of horse race, political guy at the

table at the moment -- >> what does it do for the polling, michael? >> one of the most amazing things this week is watching the obama campaign send out e-mail after e-mail calling this another mitt romney etch a sketch moment. what they mean by that is that we're seeing in realtime in excruciating detail how mitt romney is flip-flopping on this critical issue. this guy during the primaries who was against any kind of immigration reform. who when rick perry even suggested that you show some compassion blew a gasket and -- >> more than that. let's remember, rick perry, right, was going to be the great hope, right? he showed up and basically mitt romney pulled out this machete called "the dream act" which had been passed in texas and he just stuck it in rick perry's gut over and over and totally dispatched him from the race using this issue by demagoguing on this issue saying you are

giving to illegal, illegals, illegals. let's just remember the context here. >> now he says marco rubio says this, i'll hide behind marco rubio. >> one point for me was the political capital that the president is absolutely going to gain with latinos in florida, which is a huge swing state for the general election. when, in his state of the union address, he literally spoke about he's going to up the deportations and we saw record numbers in 2011. he was now playing politics with the republican party about, if i do this for you, maybe we can get something from you, what he had done was abandon the mandate of the people who put them in the office in the first place. his movement he has switched back to the direction of the people. i wanted to ask you about what that means not just for the latino vote, but for capturing his 2008 hope and change kind of plat form that he ran on. >> if i could, congress -- >> please, congressman. >> i think it's important to understand that 2 million more

latinos voted in 2008 than 2004. that 500,000 latinos turn 18 every year. they have been doing that for the last three and a half years. let me tell you what this is going to allow him to do. this is important. this is a significant move on his part. gesture on his part. initiative on his part. that a whole community of people. you know what they're going to see during september and october, the two months before the election? they're going to see up to 800,000 people who we know. i mean, these are our family members. we go to church with them, we go to school with them. they're an enterical part of who we are. there are 11 million undocumented, we care for them all. what a great, courageous first step. they are going to see them gaining relief. when we got the discretion we were angry and frustrated because just like the barack obama obama, they'll do a little

bit. what they said, if we catch you, dreamer, we'll let you go, if you apply for discretion. this is an affirmative action, as you suggest, chris. now, they don't have to wait to get caught. in 60 days they'll be able to kind of turn themselves in and as they turn themselves in, they'll be gaining a work permit, a driver's license and be able to int. there are 11 million. just like the young, wonderful graduate student you have on your program who i want to congratulate for tenacity, commitment in which they engaged us all in this debate. i want her mom, i want her dad and the millions of moms and dads that are out there to one day also be able to live free in this country and we need to continue to work on that. >> that brings me, congressman, i want you to sort of close on this, which is, the question of

the prospects for actual comprehensive reform. right? the president did have the authority to do this based on finding a bunch of legal professors and this is well within the bounds of the executive, but any kind of permanent change to the landscape is going to have to come through congress. very quickly, here's a quote from ryan lizza. the white house is so convinced of the kentrality of hispanics in the current election and its aftermath that plouffe told me he has. in that same article, right, worried about being attacked from the left, imagine a scenario in which barack obama is re-elected and republicans, once again, having gotten killed among latino workers finally understand they have to do something about that and that creates the conditions for comprehensive immigration reform in the second term.

congressman, do you see that as a likely scenario? >> i do. the election is really getting everybody ready. the election will be over, we'll have four years. the president will make this an initiative that is important to him and his legacy and, let me just say, i remember in september of 2010, it was harry reid fighting for his life out in nevada saying we're going to support the dream act and he got savidgingly attacked for two years. we won that attack. we won california, we won colorado and we kept the majority in the senate because democrats stood up for immigrants. the president is going to stand up for immigrants and latinos. you have to understand, i think you have to understand one thing is that latinos look at you first and say, are you being kind? and are you being good with immigrants? if you are, i will listen to you on other issues. the president has taken a bold step, and i know he will be

rewarded. >> democrat from illinois, thank you, both, for your time this morning. what changing demographics mean. right after this. yoo-hoo. hello.

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in 2008, president obama won both virginia and north carolina. his campaign was able to seize upon democratic changes to win states that were historically out of reach for democrats. those demographic changes had played in 2008 had only continued 2010 census data showed that in previous decades three quarters of black population gains occurred in the

south. during the same time period, nonwhites and hispanics accounted for 98% of population growth in large, metro areas. at the same time, major cities are experiencing different fu n phenomen phenomenon. released a list based on census data of the 25 fastest whitening zip codes in the country. not surprisingly, brooklyn led the way with four zip codes and washington, d.c., with three. the discussion centers around white people who lived in a neighborhood for generations. on a national level, we see the opposite narrative as people grapple the fact that we, as a nation, are becoming less white. the question is, how an increasingly diverse nation is going to get along, or going to live together and overcome the tension that genuine integration can sometimes produce. michelle bernard and public policy is back with us at the table now. i also want to bring in the one

and only, one of the finest writers you can find on the internet and michael bell is rejoining us. he's been here before, principal at visible weather architecture. gentlemen, great to have you here. >> thank you. >> the thing i find fascinating about the process of what we call, i think we should get into what that looks like and the complexities of it because you've written some interesting stuff about how we oversimplify it. you know, the question to me is, if you look at what are diverse neighborhoods, oft aen diverse neighborhoods are neighborhoods that simply are in the process of changing. so, in the, you know, the bronx, in the neighborhood of the bronx my mom grew up in, that was a diverse neighborhood in a period because a tremendous amount of white flight and imigration and neighborhood in brooklyn now are diverse because white folks are moving in and in many case

displacing black and latino residents. is there a stabilization? can we produce a system, can we produce the policies and the cultural norms that create, you're smiling, michael, like this is too much to ask. do we have, is that a possibility or are we just going to be a nation that is sealed and self-segregated as we get more and more diverse? >> the reason i'm smiling is because it's not because i'm amused, it's a huge issue. it's an issue that has the kind of history to it, of course. it's a question going forward. and if you look at it historically, you can look at it in any number of ways, but one the term invented around what terms is it adjudicated. but it has everything to do with who is in a place and why did they feel unstable? one reason i'm smiling is that i think going forward the pressure

that is on cities to change. going forward, the kind of modernization of cities, again, as a kind of paradigm that is efficient. in other words, if you see a city like new york, a centralized city as an efficient model of the carbon footprint and everything else kind of pushing towards deeper urbanization, what does it mean forward as it meant in the '60s when displacement meant something different. michelle? >> i'll talk mostly about washington, d.c., which an area i'm more familiar with. if you look in the areas in the metropolitan area that we say, they started off as low-income areas heavily populated by african-americans and hispanics and a period of time in many areas where you see, where you see the mixing of the neighborhoods and you see, you know, upper middle class whites moving in and african-americans and then eventually you get to

what you're talking bout where the area becomes predominantly white and everyone has moved out. i don't know so much so in the washington area because people are uncomfortable with one another or you see housing prices go up. the cost of living escalates so much that a lot of the low-income people that lived in these neighborhoods have to find somewhere else to live. i don't know what kind of policies government can enact to do something to change that. >> i think that it's really important to take history in account here. we had our own little conversation back in the green room, sorry, you didn't get that on camera. >> yeah, man. >> but one of the important things to recognize is that government did produce segregation. redlining was policy. a private, public partnership where you were block busting. this was redlining. these are laws, these are actually policies that happened. we use terms like white flight just sout of no where people express their preference. very good point. this is policy.

this is policy. we know we can produce segregation. i don't see why we can't necessarily produce -- >> the people that are looking at it say, yes, in the future the desirability of people, people do like increasingly living but part of it is policy. there are things being done. i want to, i want to talk about the political tension that can create and read a really, really provocative quote about keeping washington black, right after this. nicholas brand of seattle wanted to start a window washing business. to stand out, he wore a scottish kilt his wife made for him. called the company men in kilts and went door-to-door offering his services. that attention-grabbing idea has now grown to seven franchises with more in the pipelines. [ female announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role

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but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. i want to read you this quote because the fact of the matter is, look, politics, i grew up in the bronx, right? my dad was community organizer and i grew up in new york and chicago and d.c. and city politics to me are in some ways the most fascinating politics because that's where the most raw stuff is happening. right? it's like these people look like me and those people don't and

these people have jobs and these people don't and you have real conflict there and the ways that cities when they do succeed in managing that conflict to create that diversity we all love is incredible. but the flipside a lot of conflict. "we're going to stop this trend gentrification. the key to keeping this city black is jobs, jobs, jobs. is keeping a city black a proper or appropriate goal? >> no. no. and especially not appropriate or proper in d.c. i don't think. i think the key is opportunity. if you look at why d.c. is experiencing these demographic trends which goes back to the mayoralship it's because a lot

of african-americans have gained some amount of wealth and moved out to prince george's county i believe it's the only jurisdiction in the country that got richer and blacker at the same time. we have to be really, really careful about this. i am very liberal and want there to be equality, but we need to make sure that is exactly, you know, when we discuss that. that's what we talk about. watching this turn with marion barry, most people know him as the mayor that smoked crack, that's how he's known. he is something much more than a nationalest borderline racist. watching him to go into this rhetoric where he is talking about preserving his own political power. that's his ultimate goal. >> at a certain level, it's always about that. >> a little better than this at one point. >> i looked back. first of all, wanting to keep a city black, it's not, it's not a proper goal. it's not a moral goal.

washington, d.c., has been fondly known for so many years as chocolate city, but because it's predominantly african-americans and also because there are large numbers of african-americans who live in the city that are highly educated that are doing very, very well. they're raising their children. their children have access to excellent education and it seems to me that if we're going to talk about how we sort of stave this off, you know, government can't come in and say when white people move into the neighborhood and housing prices go up we're just going to make sure they don't go up too high. what the proper role of government should be and city mayor should be, as well as the federal government should be, make sure that we put every single american in a place where they are able to get a great education and be able to move forward and realize the american dream. >> and also afford housing. i think one of the issues -- >> yeah -- >> that's not what the policy framework is right now. if you state it as keeping a city black, that starts certain

alarm bells. you know, dense neighborhoods near jobs and transportation are a good places to live and particularly for folks that don't have a lot of other opportunities, we don't want to push them out to the extremities, which is also something we've seen happening and that's what our policy framework is right now. >> i grew up in prince george's county right on the northeast corner of washington, d.c., and without revealing my birthday, all i can remember, which is fine, 1960. without -- but i feel like my entire teenage years in childhood you could sense not only the change, but the tension in the change. but the reason i bring that up is not to make it personal in any way but to say there's a scenario where over that period of time, the suburbs and cities were changing and the mechanics of that was legal, political, economic, social and everything else. it tends to get discussed largely on the social level. in other words, that friction you're discussing. you are like me, i don't have a

job, et cetera, et cetera. what is a huge struggle is bringing a public discourse up to the level of the mechanics of what exactly is going on so that people can discuss it less confrontationally. >> let's talk about the policy, i mean, that's a really good point. segregation was not just reveal national preference. i want to bring you in to this conversation because you have this unique role in american political life, which is that you are the only white member of congress who represents a majority black district so your entire political life is transcending the kind of politics that we see sometimes in their worst incarnation at the city level. >> i think in memphis we've seen my constituency showed that race has become less important. it's still important, but less important and they respond to issues and to commitment and to results. and, in memphis, we don't have so much gentrification.

we were blessed, cursed and blessed with a lot of nondeveloped space in the downtown area. phenomenal job in developed housing, which is integrated downtown and new place and people had an opportunity to move in and they were economically privileged, but it's been an integrated communities in downtown and uptown. >> one of the points made when you go through the list of what they're showing right now, a lot of those are places that haven't gone roanoke, for instance. downtownro roanoke. it wasn't it was majority black and now majority white. it was that no one is living in downtown roanoke when you have areas that are nonresidential, post-industrial uses, whatever, people live in them, there is a difference there. i want to talk, though, about what policy as create gentrification and in terms of

displacement. example here in brooklyn, with the new brooklyn nets, right after this. want to hop in the back and get weird? no. no. ♪ ugh, no! [ sighs ] we can have hotdogs for dinner?! yes. [ male announcer ] it's nice to finally say "yes." new oscar mayer selects. it's yes food. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition.

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♪ what's in your...your... . talking about gentrification and diversity and that to me here is the key thing. the reason that we are a more diverse nation. that microlevel when we're like living close to each other, how do we create the conditions to have harmony, even if i could sound like a hippy for a moment and, michael bell, there is a policy framework that is at play here. one of those is, you know, we see a lot of development ince incenti incentives, even in a place like downtown brooklyn that has, that is already a hot real estate area. there's still, the city is still giving tremendous development

incentives and we saw a huge, huge epic titanic battle and there was a multi-racial coalition of people in the area fighting it. some people say that's classic not in my backyard and they don't like developments and, clearly, the nets are a little worried about this. need to take a look at this trailer as they sell themselves to their new neighborhood. >> we've also been the underdogs, waiting for our chance. and now brooklyn, we root for the same cause, because we believe in the same things you do. that neighborhood is family. and loyalty never goes away. >> i love that because it's just like -- >> i like it. >> it's good, but it's addressing. what do you, when you see big development plans like bar clay center and insennives given for

development, what do you make of that for policy? >> first of all, i am an architect but i got into develop and design and housing and largely trying to figure out how to be an architect and architects often feel embattled and unempowered in these big situations. the reason i say that, if you look at something like the b barclay's center and unlike memphis or houston or somewhere else. it's a transit issue, for example. that zone, i think, has 13 subway lines and the city knew it was a deeply undervalued hub. it's also a kind of transit question. i think the other side of it you have to look at after 9/11. the city made a major effort at rezoning countless places and maybe not liveability, but to combat job loss to new jersey or

to connecticut. so, that, that, the issues there are real, but it was already, i could get a lot of flack, but it is in a much broader macro problem, too, which is cost of transportation. which is good for the working class. >> part of the, part of the issue here, this is something i wrote about when i lived in chicago. part of the problem we've seen with development in major urban areas, remember, that urban population actually grew for the first time, right, in, i don't know if it was between 1990 and 2000 when it grew for the first time in the major, in the top major ten cities, not the metro areas. that you're seeing a greater space grow up between where jobs are and where affordable housing is. i saw this in chicago where, increasingly, particularly during the housing boom, working class folk husband to move

further and further outside the city 40, 50, 60 miles and the jobs were on some other side, the huge community as a result. >> two things that have higher conversations and that will get brought up. >> please. >> the first thing is, there is a wealth gap. a huge wealth gap between african-americans and the rest of the country, really, but between african-americans and white americans. we often ask housing policy to answer for that. >> interesting. >> but a much bigger macro issue that housing policy can necessarily solve. the second thing is you want serves and we all want services in our community and we want good commerce in our community and we all want better schools. how in the world do you get those things and not expect prices, housing prices to rise. as long as you have that wealth gap, and as long as you're asking for those things, i don't know how you resolve that tension right there. >> if a neighborhood has good transportation, a good housing stock, good schools, then it's a desirable neighborhood. the price for which will get bid

up. >> the thing is, i wish it was 1978, again. >> is it, really? >> it was the idea it was cooler then or something like that. i mean, really, do you want to go back to the past? do you want a slum in service of it remaining black or remaining as it was? >> but, i think that is -- is anyone really arguing for that? >> no, but we're on cable tv. i forgot i was on your show, though. >> raise my question and really to the congressman. if you go and look, for example, at marion barry's ward 8 in washington, d.c., one of the poorest areas in the washington metro area and if you look at that neighborhood and neighborhoods like that across the country i sit back and ask myself, why is it, for example, you can't get premium grocery stores. why can't you get good public schools. you know, really highly effective public schools in that neighborhood. children are forced to live in for the most part what is a food desert and what can we do from a

policy perspective so that gentrification aside, people can live wherever they want to live and have the services that they deserve. so, my question to you is, what can be done from a policy perspective because that's the real problem. >> congressman, i want you to answer that question, but we have to take a quick break, first. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] get the mileage card with special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere.

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why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. gives that instant cold sensation. that's chilly. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. and it lasts for hours. [ sigh of relief ] [ short breath ] [ longer breath ] [ short breath ] [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. i'm seeing on twitter just an update we were talking about immigration. mike allen is reporting romney twice declines to say if he would undo obama's immigration order. that would be interesting to see if he could make it to november without answering that question. i suspect he can't. michelle bernard, you are asking the president how do you create a policy framework that allows to be amenities and publicly accessible public goods, even in

neighborhoods that aren't -- >> that are low-income neighborhoods. >> we have food deserts in memphis, which most inner cities have to give incentives to grocery stores to move in to the inner city. it's not going to move until there is a democratic congress that can move. there can be tax policies that do direct and give opportunity for grocery stores. for michelle obama is doing a great job and gardens and farms that are kind of in the inner cities and people growing their own in the legal way. >> i thought you made that distinction for our audience. >> walgreen's talked about doing more vegetables and fruits in the inner cities. i encourage them to come to memphis and have it there. but there's opportunities and i think american industry and walgreen's for one, sees it but it's tough. >> one thing on a federal level, we should note. look, this is a place where at the level of federal policy,

cities, particularly the actual, not just metro areas and actually in-city boundaries are entirely represented essentially by representatives in congress. they do not vote for republicans and the republicans don't care about them more or less from -- i'm not saying this because they're bad people, but from a constitchancy standpoint, they're not getting their votes. urban policy and this kind of thing is just not going to move very much unless there is a democratic president. michael, let's talk about the role that subsidies play because that's a big part of it. you're covering the fight over walmart coming into the west side of chicago. development doesn't happen just in a vacuum and a lot of times the government when you see these big stadium deals, for instance, in most cases just totally scandalous and just absolutely taxpayer footing the bill -- >> ours was not scandalous in d.c., i have to say. i cheered the agency that did it. we literally did a

public/private partnership and paid $200 million of his own money. >> that one. exactly, you're talking about the arena. >> the mci arena which is now the verizon center. >> we see this as a rule, right? that government subsidizing private interest to develop. >> i think some of these things which, you know, as an architect, you find out what is controlling this world. architects love to think they have stuff to do with shaping territory, but not that much. in the case of new york city the other night. had a conference around the foreclosed show, which is why i was here the last time, the housing development agency for the city, he made an incredibly lucid argument about the billions and billions of dollars that new york city has spent on trying to produce affordable housing the last 20 years. but his point wasn't success or failure, but the degree to which the world we have is far from organic. >> right. >> and it is laden with directives and initiatives and,

in his case, this was a positive thing. i bring it because we were talking about unintended consequences before we came on. the brook amendments in 1969 sent house rolls at 30% of household main income and it was meant to be a positive thing and senator brooks from massachusetts, but ended up, basically, diminishing the diversity within public housing because it raised the rent on certain people. so people whose rent went up left and you ended up with more of a stratum of a demographic, which by 1998 the housing and quality produced more mixed income. this, to me, the reason i made the personal statement of growing up in d.c., i feel that there is a life-long process of trying to understand how the world we live in was made but we're negotiating it very personally. if we're in need of a store, it's a very personal issue. why the store isn't there is not a personal issue.

>> i want to, again, i got to raise this point because we're talking about race. it's very important that we remember that some people don't like the city. if you are like me and you grew up in a neighborhood in a city where you did not have space, a lawn, a big house. this was a sign of wealth and what we're seeing right now is a large number of really middle class african-americans fleeing our cities and moving down south where housing is cheaper and you can get that big lawn. these people are not crying. you know, that's not to diminish the issue of gentrification, not to give ammo to say that we shouldn't have policy, but i think that's really, really important. >> that massive demographic shift that is happening, which is really remarkable. i think in some ways an untold story because we all know the story of the great northern migration, one of the iconic stories. >> the people going back are in much better shape, much better educated. they make more money compared to the people who came up, to their forefathers that came up.

>> michael bell, great to have you here on this discussion. >> thank you. what we should know for the news week ahead. coming up neckt. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. today training depends on technology. and when it takes a battery, there are athletes everywhere who trust duracell.

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what you should know for the week ahead. first, a quick personal update. my book is on sale now. i'll be appearing in events at washington, d.c., monday and tuesday night and in chicago on thursday night. you can check out the facebook page for more details. we'd love to see you. what should you know for the week coming up? thoonks to a new homeland security directive, documented immigrants under 30 years old who came here in their youth will be able to obtain work permits and no longer fear deportation. prior to this announcement, the administration had already and

further angered activists who had been organizing for years for the dream act. you should know demonstrators and applying political pressure on the white house works and this is also good politics. remarkably, the house of representatives have yet to hold a vote on the senate's version of reauthorization of the violence against women act. you should know the act has been for years a bipartisan piece of legislation and that republicans now object to those provisions that would expand legal proekss to those who are victims of domestic violence, gay, or undocumented americans. republicans have been what they are doing so adept, on jukting the aendgentleman by running out the clock. and two have written to john boehner asking him to hold a vote. the southern baptist convention will be held this week. you should know southern

baptists emerged from a split from northern baptists after slavery, and even after the civil war, they long supported segregation. the presidency next week, and will he does, become the last african-american to lead the southern baptists. finally, falling gas prices can help other places other than the pump. on thursday, we learned consumer prices fell last month, largely due to gas prices as we discussed last week, fighting inflation is one of the main jobs, falling prices give the fed more leeway to fulfill its other main mission. using monetary policy to help create jobs. you should know the associated press reports some economists now predict fed chair ben bernanke will do just that when fed policymakers meet this week and it it happens, it will seem to disprove the policy i talked about last week, mitt romney trying to do all he can to spur hiring. i would rarely be so happy to be wrong. i want to find out my guests

think we should know. i'll begin with you, congressman. >> probably another extension of the transportation bill. we need a transportation reauthorization bill. the house bill did not pass, because republicans couldn't get their act together. the senate passed a bill with bipartisan support. we have gone to conference through some unusual route. and the republicans are still trying to get some of those draconian things in there about the keystone pipeline and coal ash, coal ash is good for america according to them, things like that. we need a jobs bill and the transportation reauthorization. our infrastructure, 20th in the world. we need to be getting back to first. we need to build roads, do things that make -- commutes to the city easier, have mass transit involved. i think they'll have another continuation extension, because they don't want to give the president the jobs. there will be tiger grant announced, $500 million. you need the good jobs. >> it sounds like what we're

doing with a lot of bills, temporary extension, kick the can down the road sort of thing. not the full bill between election day. >> we won't get anything done. an extension until after the election, and then there won't be time and then you go to the next congress. and that's a shame. america's future is infrastructure. >> and people should vote for the party in congress that they think can best attack the problems. michelle bernard. >> what people need to know that the catholic for the night for freedom goes june 21st through july 24th. a 14-day period of education, a call to action, to focus on religious liberty. tune in, see what's happening a catholic bishop recently compared president obama to both stalin and hitler. and my colleague, melinda hahnenburger at the washington coast post has a blog, called is the catholic fortnight for freedom a campaign to defeat

barack obama? i think it's important to see what they have to say with regard to president obama. >> you should know jose antonia vargas. i will be a little sapp ooechl jose is a reporter i spent the 2008 campaign on the bus. very talented young guy. took a huge risk by coming out last year as an undocumented worker. risked his career, his livelihood, he kept at it, took a lot of criticism for doing that, and one of my proudest moments as a new yorker, brent hastings in town for father's day, outside 30 rock, ran into jose, and i said, dan this is jose antonio vargas, he was on the cover of "time" magazine, and he actually made a decision. it's an individual decision, but individual decisions can have impact. >> i love that, michael. are you right. >> jose was great on melissa's show yesterday. we had him on the program, will

definitely have him back. >> you should know this name. malvina. she was a black woman born in 1844. and she was impregnated at 14 years old by her white slave master and the great, great, great grandmother of first lady michelle obama. and one of the stories in a brand new book called "american tapestry: the story of the black, white, and multiracial ancestors of michelle obama." the author will be in new york on tuesday, june 19th at the schaumburg. 6:30 p.m. a slice of america, but also it has the conversation around slavery and race in a most unexpected way. >> wow. that sounds super fascinating. >> fascinating. >> the book out now? >> just out now. and tuesday, june 19th, at the schaumburg, 6:30 p.m. on my show monday. >> buy your book, chris hayes

book rocks. got to support it. >> father's day. support it proudly. >> okay, all right. thanks to my guests. thank you very much. thank you, all. thank you for joining us. back next weekend, saturday and sunday at 8:00 eastern time. guests include "the new york times" ross douthat and michael ian black. up next, melissa harris-perry. melissa makes the argument that a corporate president is not the ideal candidate and presents an argument for why in mitt romney's framing, jay-z would actually make the best president. and white voters may be the tipping point for president obama's re-election. why whiteot vote being bloc we hone in on. what do white people want? we'll see you next week. happy father's day to all out there, here on "up." our cloud is not soft and fluffy.

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