and say these things. >> to get into such specifics with the sense of, you know, i know what i'm talking about when clearly that's not the case. >> these latest comments come as wisconsin's legislature is poised to pass a trio of bills that limit access to abortion. they require twoem undergo ultrasound to ban public money for abortions. >> sit down. you're not recognized. the question before the house is nondebatable. call the roll. >> joining me right now is congresswoman loretta sanchez a democrat from california. she's founder and chair of the women in the military caucus. congresswoman, great to have you with me today and certainly i think for a lot of people it feels like deja vu. they relaunched not just akin website and as we mentioned the

wisconsin state legislature poised to pass a trio of republican bills on abortion. considering the backlash that todd akin saw last year, why do you think the republicans are choosing to go down this road again. >> well, first of all good morning, thomas. secondly, i think there's just a best of ideolgues in congress. they think woman should have no choice and they want to control what's happening to women's bodies. they will say almost anything. they will put misinformation out in order to put their bills forward. >> representative franks delayed blame at the door step of your own party. take a listen to this. >> the reality is it's not republicans talking about this it's democrats that keep forcing the rape issue into this debate. they've done it ever since roe v. wade. democrats are forcing this issue, this rape issue into the debate of abortion. >> how do you respond to that?

>> listen, most, the majority of democrats or self-identified democrats across our nation are content with the supreme court's ruling on roe v. wade. they want to see that stay. they want women to have choices in their lives. and we are not the ones that bring these issues of abortion in laws or as bills as mr. franks has. >> when we talk about the republicans getting, i guess, foot-and-mouth over rape and abortion it seems that they are making missteps when it comes to women in general because we've had example, democratic senator carl levin siding with military commanders against a plan to take the prosecution of sexual assaults in the military out of the chain of command. explain your reaction to that because this is certainly a big blow. >> well, honestly thomas i would agree more with the chairman than i would with the gillibrand bill. she's a good friend. she used to be a blue dog when

she was in the house with me before she went to the senate. she called me and asked if i would carry this in the house. the reality is her bill amounts to a major rear form not only outside of the command structure, but for all. treason, anything else. what it requires is a whole new blown up prosecutorial and judging arena which i think takes away the basic role of what we need to see in the military. costs too much. but more importantly, where we should be changing this, thomas, is that these commanders must be held accountable. and when you take it out from under them, they are going to say hey, go talk to the pentagon, it's not my problem any more. i want to hold them accountable. and if they won't be accountable then they don't deserve to be in leadership. >> it's good to hold them accountable but it seems if retribution is the biggest issue

for the women coming forward or for men coming forward seems as if that's what many people are worried about and i know that you appeared in the oscar nominated documentary "the invisible war" and you met with victims that came to speak with you face to face. i saw this movie and it was my impression from your appearance in it that you were able to empathize with these victims because of firsthand experience. am i wrong? >> you're absolutely right. the retribution has nothing with the way we prosecute. the retribution is a cultural issue. and we need to address it and we need to address it strongly. for example, one of the things we need to do from my perspective is to put on that promotion sheet how did you handle issues like this under your command. because, you know, if we put on the promotion sheet when a guy wants to go from captain to major, for example, if we tell him he has to do 100 sit ups in a minute guess what he'll practice every night. if we don't have that whole

issue of sexual assault and sexual harassment and climate surveys in his promotion sheet he'll let it go out of sight out of mind. we hold them more accountable. the reason i feel so strongly about this yes i was in a business situation where i was being sexually harassed and sexually assaulted, unwanted touching and other issues and when i reported the fact of the matter is even though i had tons of friends and they all agreed when they talked to hr that this was going on the fact of the matter is within the workplace nobody wanted to talk to me, nobody wanted to work with me, everybody was afraid of their own retaliation from the higher up, and certainly it got to a point where i couldn't be effective in the work that i was doing an i had to leave. so i completely understand. not only the fact that women get raped but that if they report, they are retaliated against and that's why we have a very strong

provision for whistle blowing within our ndeaa act, the bill we're debating today on the house floor with respect to some of the issues of sexual assault. >> congressman loretta sanchez thanks for being here today. i appreciate it. and thanks for taking a personal question. developing right now, robert mueller defending the government's sweeping surveillance programs. mueller said the data in a massive u.s. government database, telephone, daily telephone records has been instrumental in identifying people who sought to harm americans. he defended the recently revealed surveillance program as collecting no content whatsoever beyond data such as numbers called and the time and length of those telephone calls. so the head of the nsa will be back on capitol hill again today one day after defending his agency's sweeping surveillance programs four star army general keith alexander telling the senate appropriations committee yesterday that the electronic programs prevented dozens of

attacks. >> harm has already been done by opening this up, and the consequence, i believe, is our security is jeopardized. there's no doubt in my mind that we will lose capabilities as a result of this. and that not only the united states but those allies that we have helped will no longer be as safe as they were two weeks ago. >> so the man who revealed that classified data edward snowden tells a hong kong newspaper that america has been hacking china's for years. a new "time" magazine poll shows just over half of those survey believe snowdon's leap was a good thing. the number was far higher among 18 to 34-year-olds. almost as many 53 belief snowden should be prosecute preponderance of the evidence joining me is "time" magazine white house correspondent and the author of this month's cover story "geeks who leak." you began your article with a

powerful observation. you write in part the u.s. national security infrastructure was built from text the nation against foreign enemies and the spies they recruit. 20 something home grown computer geeks with utopian ideas how the world should work -- this new brand of techno file -- these are highly technically advanced young people, but how much damage are they really doing and especially if they are moored in a different set of ideas from older americans. >> the damage is debatable. clearly the national security apparatus thinks this leak, the bradley manning leak which came from the same kind of ideological, he had a long history of work tongue internet.

tissue for the federal government is and not just for the federal government for corporations as well you have a young group of people who are educated online, who identify, almost ideology online. who are coming to this with a different set of ideas. these people like we've seen with manning and snowden are in position of enormous power and unlike the leakers and threats we had to national secrecy before, in that they consider themselves patriots. they are not out to harm the country they are out to improve the world as they see it. >> and the other thing, we're raising a generation of kids who have only known this country in being at war. and steeped in the same process of technological advances we've been privy to being in this country. nbc news is not independently confirmed to that belong to

edward snowden but he posted hundreds of comments to several tech and i.t. sites under the name of the true hoohaw. i hate these made up names. here's a sampling. the degree thing is crap. i have no degree or a high school diploma but i'm making much more than what they're paying you. if somebody likes you it doesn't matter. if you put your pants on before your underwear in the morning, you will get the job. so, are people like snowden are they unmoored in their beliefs in how from text america. >> there's certainly individualists. snowden is reflecting something that's very common online i have powers as an individual i don't belong to institutions i'm not tloil institutions i'm loyal to my beliefs. the other issue made at the beginning there after september 11th we had this enormous shift

against civil liberties to deal with those terrorist attacks and these young people in the late 20s grew up in that time. that's what they knew. this ideology is a reaction to that. if you see the support for manning and snowden is a reaction against the way the pendulum swung after september 11th. >> the "time" poll finds americans are split on whether they support the prism. this caught our eye. 76% believes the program is bigger and more widespread. the public trust in government is sorely lacking? >> absolutely lacking. the poll shows majorities plurality wasn't too concerned about that. 20% said we should make it, be more aggressive against civil liberty, be more aggressive in going after terrorist, a large number wanted to it stay the

same. absolutely true. no one trusts government or large corporations but it's also true that most people in america right now don't share this ideology. ten years from now that will have shifted. >> we want to trust our government to believe that they are doing the right thing. >> they haven't given us much reason. >> just figuring out the foundational basis because instead of seeking our permission but asking for our forgiveness. so we wait to see exactly what is going to come out of this. great to see you. thanks for your time. we want to get to some breaking news. an explosion at a louisiana chemical plant. emergency officials say 25 people have been hurt. the explosion touched off a fire at the williams company incorporated plant and the plant is located in geismar. the plant puts out 1.3 billion pounds of ethylene a year. we're watching this breaking news.

25 people have been hurt in this chemical plant explosion in louisiana. we'll get more details and get it to you. ♪

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we're following breaking news major decision at the u.s. supreme court a unanimous ruling that human genes cannot be patented. it's a debate that has an interesting odd connection to actress angelina jolie's surprise revelation last month that she had a double mastectomy. pete williams joins me now with more on this. pete, explain what the patent issue was all about and the connection to angelina jolie's case. >> reporter: well the connection to her is that she sought a test to see if she had a gene that's predisposed her to breast or ovarian cancer.

there's two genes and she tested positive and she decided to have the double mastectomy. as a company in utah that does this test and it claimed a patent on the actual human gene itself and today the supreme court said no you can't do that, you cannot patent human genes. now it's something of a mixed outcome because the supreme court upheld myriad's patents in synthetic genes but can you patent the genes themselves. the federal government has given patents to thousands of other kinds of patents involving human genes. today advocates for ovarian and breast cancer victims say this is a good decision because it should free up cheaper methods of evaluating whether people have these potential genes that could cause cancer because the company had a monopoly on these genes the people who were suing here claimed that it made it very difficult and expensive to get these tests. so, it's an important development in the law. but we'll have to wait and see

exactly how this is going to apply to the biotech industry. >> pete williams reporting outside of the supreme court. pete, thank you, sir. we go to philadelphia where 10-year-old sara is recovering after undergoing a successful double lung transplant. i want comes one week after a judge side with sara's family and ordered she be placed on the adult waiting list. >> they were table resize the adult lungs without any issue. it was a perfect fit into sara and the surgery is done and she's heading to recovery. we expect her to be, you know, doing some things within the next couple of days and taking her first breath so we can't wait for that and she really did well. so we're very, very, very excited and we're very, very thankful. >> very positive news for family. the case has ignited huge debate over how organs are all located. joining me is a republican from pennsylvania. sir good to have you here. you don't represent the town

where the family is from but last week you were one of several members calling on health in a human services kathy sebelius to change the rules to not only giving sara a chance to receiving new lungs but everyone who would be considered not allocated properly. have you been in touch with the family to find out how sara is doing? >> actually i have. i talked to sara's aunt sharon. sara is in critical but stable condition but, you know, this brings so much hope to other children who would never have a chance. >> when we talk about the other kids out there, there's nearly 1700 people waiting for new lungs and because of sara's transplant yesterday there are now 15 children under 11 on the waiting list and since the judge's ruling some experts are pushing back saying the lawsuits and pressure from lawmakers like yourself to relax the under 12 rule for lung plantses will call for precedents for exceptions to

be made. what's your reaction >> my concern is why children are being discriminated based on their age and not by their condition. we wouldn't deny anyone a transplant based on the color of their skin or the gender, whether they are male or female but we were going -- they were going let a little girl die because she was 10 years old and not 12. that doesn't make any sense. medical science moves faster than politicians here in washington. >> one thing that want we do know, congressman there's a hearing scheduled tomorrow over the judge's order for both sara and a different child who is also under a judge's ruling supposed to be deemed to receive lungs now taken off the list where he was waiting and to receive potentially adult lungs. what do you hope comes out of the hearing and the controversy over the allocation of organs? >> i hope that want we put away the age restriction that disqualifies and look at the patient themselves and give them a score, put them -- we don't

want to put children ahead of the line but that's what you want to get them in line in their rightful place. so i think this is a good case. i think what sara has proven is that science has shown that want we shouldn't discriminate based on someone's age and give these children a chance. anyone who is on that pediatric list doesn't have much of a chance because there's so few opportunities for a lung donation. this changes all of that. >> congressman, thanks for making time for me. i appreciate it. the idea that the republican men on this committee think they can tell the women of america that they have to carry to term the product of a rape is outrageous. >> reacting to trent frank's comments on rape and abortion. is the gop war on women still alive and well? our gender panel will weigh in

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developing now, a weather one-two punch. severe storms are developing across much of the nation. wildfires out west. it's been raining in washington, d.c. with the possibility of strong storms firing up later in the day. then here in new york the weather had delayed the u.s. open but we're just learning play will resume next hour. this wildfire spread out of control in colorado. more than 300 homes have been destroyed as wildfires burn unchecked through parts of colorado today. the black forest near -- excuse me black forest burning near colorado springs covering up 12,000 acres. four other wildfires are burning uncontained. here's a look at some stories topping the news. fourth day of jury selection in the george zimmerman trial. george zimmerman is on trial for the murder of trayvon martin. zimmerman pleaded not guilty. he claems self-defense. 27 people have been interviewed. 20 have been placed in the

potential juror pool. one of nelson mandela's daughters have arrived to visit her father. the former president is responding to treatment. south africans across the country are wishing him a speedy recovery. nascar's jason leffler has died after a crash last night. the 37-year-old driver crashed during a sprint car race at a new jersey track. and he was two-time winner in the nascar nationwide series. a philadelphia building inspector who made several inspections of a building that collapsed last week has been found dead. the man may have committed suicide on wednesday night. six people died in last week's collapse. a backhoe operator has been charged with manslaughter. it's hash tags for facebook the social media site is take its lead from twitter as it begins to use clickable hash tags. hash tags should get easier to

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. lessons not learned? is the republican's party war on women back and back in full swing? surprising numbers new data from census bower say there's a major shift in the white population. wait until you see this. the father's message, yes, sir exclusive interview trayvon martin's father tracey. those are the topics pitched by today's panel of writers. gang, it's great to have you all here. i want to start on this reinvigorated topic this war on women. i want to play for everybody what exactly started the tipping point for this and it was representative trent franks and his original comment during a mark up of a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks. take a listen. >> the incidents of rape and

resulting in pregnancy are very, low but when you make that exception there's usually a requirement to report the rape within 48 hours. >> all right. so, this has definitely brought the todd akin problem back into the forefront for the republican parent nancy pelosi was very quick to jump on this with her own reaction. take a listen. >> and yesterday was really just another day in the life of the republican congress. they passed legislation that was disrespectful, the rights, health and safety of the american women. all the people who voted for the bill were men. disrespectful. >> it's disrespectful was the last thing she said there. now i just want to play what trent franks had to say after the reaction that he's gotten and back tracking on his original statement. take a look.

>> the incidents where pregnancy from rape that results in abortion after the beginning of the sixth month are very rare. the reality it's not republicans that are talking about this, it's democrats that keep forcing the rape issue into this debate. they've done it ever since roe v. wade. >> now that you're all caught up. tim i want to start with you. explain why it appears that the gop is committing suicide over this issue? >> it does seem just a case of gop derangement syndrome. small child puts his hand on the burn are and burns his hand. he generally learns not to put his hand back on the burner again. but the gop doesn't seem able to learn that lesson. i mean, the biology of course is wrong. there is no lower tendency to get pregnant after being raped but you would think that they could understand the politics. part of the problem in politics is local. representative franks represents

a very strongly republican district that probably doesn't mind so much but the national party i would imagine minds a lot. we saw "the weekly standard" do a hilarious attempt yesterday to try to reinter pretty his remarks to say he didn't really say what he really did say. >> let's look at the larger problem because it does point to larger issues. as we look what the national journal puts out this was in direct issue with franks' statement but just a larger 30,000 foot view at the gop and they came out with lessons learned that haven't been learned from 2012. party leaders in washington anonymously rebuking new jersey governor chris christie, house republicans cast a symbolic vote to reject president obama's deportation of young people brought to this country as young children and gop members willing to get back on the record about rape and abortion. it doesn't seem as if they are willing to -- >> no -- >> recognize their past will

sink them in the future. >> that are of them is who they are and unrealistic view of women's lives not just about the biology but what he's saying with the idea if a woman was really raped and pregnant she would have a police report within 48 hours. she would have figured it out within 20 weeks so it must be really rare. when that's not how lives work. one would think that the more kind and realistic position would be that woman might get more time. what's almost more alarming than what they don't know about women's lives and women's bodies is what they do know actually about the politics and how it works particularly at a state level. this has come out here at state houses across the country there's been bills passed that chip away little by little at abortion rights earth by changing the timing as this attempts to do or by making their being admitting privileges for doctors or harder for a clinic to stay open and it's a real strategy.

and as much as we say this is suicidal and this doesn't seem to be working for them, it's working for them in terms of rolling back abortion rights. >> unfortunately it is disqualifying the severity of rape and almost as if -- your purse was snatched, your car was stolen. of course you'll call the cops. rape is different. you point out this should be an issue that republican women stand up and take these men to task for. >> yes. i spoke to congressman steve israel of new york a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about the democratic strategy going forward because he's the chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee and he basically pointed out that his coalition includes women who are activist on women's reits, african-american, hispanics and asian-americans and he said the problem, the fundamental problem with the republican party is that it is run by 90% white males and i think this kind of thing shows the women within the republican party need to speak up, they need to take more leadership

roles. otherwise you get this skewed voice coming from the republicans which doesn't include women and is not inclusive of other minorities. >> they need to look at the census bower numbers because they will be out in the cold. let's take a peek at where this country is going. and if we can go the nation's make up, i want to show where we're moving to because census numbers, the white majority in the u.s. will be gone by 2043. as we look at this nonhispanic white 63%, hispanic 17%, blacks 12%, asians at 5%. this is the browning of america. the expectation what we've known this country of immigrants would eventually evolve into. it's just the republicans aren't reading the sea change. >> right. we're seeing the white majority is already, i think disappeared in pre-schools and this past last year we saw for first time in american history the number of white deaths exceeded the

number of white births. the u.s. for the first time became a net importer of white people, you might say because while the number of white people increased in the u.s. it was due to immigration rather than births outweighing deaths. that has obviously seismic consequences for the republican party, which is really built much more than the democratic party on a majority white nation and that very idea. >> and i just want to shift really quickly because i don't want to run out of time on this. as we talk about race certainly a case that has gripped the attention of the nation, watching the court drama play out in sanford, florida with george zimmerman and edward you had a chance to speak with trayvon martin's dad tracey and the questions you were asking him were based upon his reflections as a father as we come up to father's day weekend. what did he have to say? >> he humanized his son so beautifully and it was really nice to see an african-american father speaking about an african-american son particularly in a society that often criminalizes and

stigmatizes african-american young males. he basically talked about how trayvon loved network with his hands, how he could take a bike or a motorcycle or a radio apart to put it together, how it sparked his interest in engineering, how he would be so proud if trayvon lived because he spent the last two years studying for his pilot mechanic's license. he talked about the boy he loved. he said my kid was perfect to me. that was an exact quote from him. we went into the facts of the case. what was so overwhelming about tracey martin's reflection they fly in the face of what the zimmerman defense team have been trying to do is frame trayvon as a thug who was the agent of his own demise. he was the aggressor in this situation where that was kid who was out for snacks who got put upon by someone who acted in a deranged way. >> jury selection still continues in that case. mr. zimmerman has pleaded not

guilty in the shooting death of trayvon martin and was unarmed at the time. we want to note mr. zimmerman sued nbc universal for defamation and the company has denied his allegation. i want to say thanks to my panel. great to have you all here. still ahead, the white house celebrating pride month and as we wait for two huge supreme court decisions affecting the lgbt community, doma and prop 8. how gay supreme court clerks may be influencing the court's decision. here's a word you shod keep in mind. unbiased. some brokerage firms are. but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder -- isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds." yikes! then go to e-trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds, and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for you. e-trade. less for us. more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing. for a current prospectus, visit etrade.com/mutualfunds.

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so the white house showing its pride for the lgbt communities. later today the president will deliver an address at the white house as part of the administration's celebration of june being gay pride month. this comes as the supreme court is poised to rule on two landmark major equality cases by the end of this month and as president obama faces increased pressure to take even further action from text lgbt americans both in marriage and in the

workplace joining me right now is the legal director at ucla law's lgbt think tank and information law clerk for supreme court justin ruth bader ginsberg and activist for freedom to marry. among those attending today's event at the white house we break down a really interesting cornucopia attending. one news magazine famously dubbed president obama as being the first gay president but now activists want him to use his executive powers to fight discrimination in the workplace. do you think the president is getting a bad rap for not doing an executive order on that? >> first of all i don't think the president is getting a bad rap, the president is getting exactly what he's invited, support and appreciation for his strong and effective leadership, and encouragement, pushing help

to do the rest of the job. and that's what presidents are elected to do. we are very grateful for president obama's clear and strong moral leadership and he would be the first to agree with us that there's much more that needs to be done. >> what do we expect from the u.s. supreme court. this event comes as we wait for the backdrop. a lot of anticipation. these two historic decisions. prop 8 and doma. they will come down from the court by the end. month. a "new york times" article suggests gay law cherks at the supreme court who no longer feel the need to live in the shadows could help impact these upcoming decisions and the article also points out the large population of people who identify themselves as lgbt in washington, d.c. more than double in the country. you are openly gay and you clerked for justice ruth bader ginsberg, so what is your firsthand knowledge of this and how impactful do you think those relationships might be?

>> well, i think studies have shown that one of the greatest predictors whether someone supports rights for lgbt people, lesbi lesbian, gay, bisexual and tr s transgender. the justices have had gay law clerks and gay employees and other people in their personal lives is that they understand gay people as individuals, and gay people as members of family. these cases before the court this term represent the first time that these justices are considering gay rights issues in the context of actual families before them. and fortunately the concept of gay and lesbian people forming families together is not a foreign concept to them it's something they've observed in people who are close to them both personally and professionally. >> it makes a difference when things are made visible and,

david, in this article, it also brought up how justice lewis f. powell struggled with how to cast a decisive vote in the '86 so do my case that devastated the gay community. he told his justice he didn't meet a homosexual but one of his four clerks was gay. john roberts admitted about 30 members of the lgbt bar association. how do you think that changes the dynamics of the court, the visibility of lgbt people who have a choice to make about being visible. because it's easy to hide sometimes in the lgbt community. you don't have to raise your hand and be accounted for. >> i think it makes all the difference in the world. you know, it's interesting, the court this term is deciding whether the federal defense marriage act is constitutional. when that law was enacted by congress in 1996, incidentally i was clerking at the supreme court, at that time when congress said that the federal

government would in no way recognize any marriage of any same sex couple, there actually were no same sex married couple anywhere in the world, there wasn't a single country that allowed same sex couples to marry. fast forward to today, 17 years later, we got 12 states plus the district of columbia that enacted laws that permit same sex couples to marry. same sex couples are able to marry in countries throughout the world. the concept of gay people forming families and, in fact, forming families that are recognized by the government as marriages is something that the justices are now familiar with and that will help them understand that laws such as the defense of marriage act and proposition 8 are actually actively discriminating against existing families. >> you know, the interesting thing too i want to point out because we know 70 plus members of congress are doing the no hate photo campaign today. this is a huge indication of the

sea change we're seeing in washington, d.c. because that's trip tell number who participated the last year but we think about seeing that forward motion and we juxtapose that with hate crimes we're seeing in and around the country especially in new york city. >> look, there's immense progress. there's irrefutable momentum. many americans, a majority of americans are speaking out now in support of ending this discrimination. but there remains a mountain of discrimination that still needs brought down and overcome. that's why we engage the president, why we call on congress, that's why we have to talk neighbor to neighbor to ensure gay people can participate fully and equally in american society. that's what strengthens america. >> virginia did away with racial prejudice but it may not do away with homophobia no matter what the supreme court does. we're back after this.

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we continue to follow the breaking news out of louisiana where a chemical plant explosion has taken place. emergency officials say approximately 25 people have been hurt. this explosion touched off a fire at the williams company incorporated plant just after 10:00 this morning. the plant is located in the town of geismar. we're hearing that roughly ten ambulances are still on the scene there performing triage work. company's website is giving -- says there's 1.3 billion pounds of ethylene a year produced at this plant. but again, early reports were about 25 people were injured there. we'll continue to follow that story. the medicaid expansion provision of the affordable health care act has become a political football in many states run by republicans. arizona governor jan brewer has come under fire from people in her own party for embracing the expansion, while governor bobby jindal of louisiana has come under fire for rejecting it, putting hundreds of thousands without health insurance at risk.

that's the backdrop against which nbc has announced we'll sponsor a one-day free health clinic in new orleans on july 3rd. it is the eighth clinic we've sponsored. executive director of the national associations of free clinics is the group organizing this health clinic. nico nicole, tell me how the lack of medicaid expansion will impact residents of louisiana? >> to be quite frank with you, people are just going to die. it is time we stop putting politics over people. for many of the underserved and uninsured, the only way for access to health care is through this medicaid expansion it. without it, they will just be lost. >> what is typically seen by patients that are coming in to the clinics there? what are the screenings, what's the health need that you're offering? >> one of the things that i think most people are surprised by is that 83% of the people who come to our clinics to get diabetic screenings, physical

examples, connection to pharmaceutical, is that they have a job. at my last clinic i met a man who was 40 years old and had never been to a doctor because his job did not give him access to health care. that shouldn't happen in this country so we're going to new orleans again to offer these people access to health care so they can get healthy and be productive members of society. >> new orleans is still not fully recovered after hurricane katrina, but it's the truth and one of the major issues is the charity hospital closed leaving this really large vacuum for health care services. are state and local leaders making any progress in filling that vacuum? >> i think that we have to remember, there was also an oil spill, there were floodings. i think that while they are trying to fill a vacuum, obviously without a hospital it can't totally be filled. i think with this lack of medication expansion we're just going to hit new orleans and other cities around the country right off at the knees again and

have just another problem. >> before i let you go, for those viewers that are watching that feel a need to help, what can they do to help make this clippic more of a success? >> we desperately need help with donations and volunteers. the outpouring of support from the msnbc viewers has been overwhelming. what we're asking people is to continue to help us so we can continue to give the health care that so. many people need. nicole, thanks so much. i want to pass on this note about the continuing msnbc health initiative. reverent al sharpton is going to anchor politics nations from the free health clinic in new orleans on july 3rd. in order for these clinics to be a success, we really do, as nicole pointed out, need your help. if you can donate or volunteer, please go to the national association of free clinics website. make a contribution there or sign up to be a volunteer. if you don't have insurance or need to see a doctor, you can also make an appointment. that wraps up this hour for me. i'm see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. "now" with alex wagner comes

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word in to the republican party -- the game fence has actually been built. it is thursday, june 13th and this is "now." edging closer to passage of an immigration reform bill, the right flank is gathering forces to ensure that nothing actually happens. at present the grand old party is hung up on border security. never mind the fact that president obama has dramatically increases deportations and armed patrols. net migration from mexico to the u.s. is zero but republicans would seem to desire something closer to negative zero, a number that does not mathematically exist before they will accept broader reform. ep ter senator john cornyn who

has introduced a border security amendment to the gang of eight senate bill with the aim of ensuring basically one thing -- the gang of eight senate bill will die in the senate. >> put simply, what it does is it builds on the framework of the gang of eight which says that by ten years there has to be 100% situational awareness of the border and a 90% apprehension rate for people who come across illegally. >> senator cornyn i think has got, in my view, the key amendment to put us in a position where we can actually look at the american people with a straight face and say we are going to security the border. >> to say cornyn's proposal is unfeasible is to give it credit. cornyn's bill is covered in the magical pixie dust of totalle decollusion. among other things, 100% situational awareness of a 2,000-mile long border is about as likely as ensuring that every tooth in america is brushed before bedtime. cornyn's amendment would also leave