>> i understand the resilience of that community, the resilience of the people there. >> this is an issue of the veterans, the military, an issue of the united states of america. >> we'll do everything we can to ensure they continue to move forward. >> a live look at ft. hood, texas, where we are awaiting a press conference due to begin in a matter of minutes. after last night's deadly shooting, today the country learned more about army specialist ivan lopez, the man who apparently killed three service members and wounded 16 at the army base yesterday before taking his own life. >> this was an experienced soldier. he spent actually nine years in the puerto rico national guard. >> the alleged shooter involved joined the united states army in june of 2008. >> had a one-year deployment to the sinai with the national guard and then had a four-month deployment in iraq. >> his records show no wounds, no involvement, direct

involvement in combat. he was undergoing a variety of treatment and diagnoses for mel conditions ranging from depression to anxiety to some sleep disturbance. he was seen just last month by a psychiatrist. >> on the heels of some positive news overseas, this march marked the first month without any u.s. combat fatalities in 11 years. the country saw tragedy return to the home front. a topic addressed by president obama within the last hour. >> to see unspeakable, senseless violence happen in a place where they're supposed to feel safe, home base, is tragic. we'll make sure we do everything in our power to keep our troops safe and strong not only battlefield but also when they come home. >> following army major nadal

hasan's rant which killed 13 at the same army base and last september shooting at the washington navy yard which left 12 dead, yesterday's deadly incident marked the third shooting at a military installation in just five years. prior to the shooting ivan lopez was in treatment for anxiety and depression and was being evaluated, though not diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. and yet lopez did not see combat during his 2011 tour of iraq. he had self-reported a traumatic brain injury when he returned from the country, though that injury was never confirmed by authorities. in the science of mental disorders and suicidal tendencies, exposure to combat isn't necessarily the biggest determinant. according to a study last month, suicide rates among soldiers in iraq and afghanistan more than doubled from 2004 to 2009 with more than 30 suicides per 100,000. but the rate among those who never deployed was even higher, tripling to between 25 and 30 per 100,000 people.

the same study found that nearly 1 in 5 u.s. army soldiers had mental illnesses before they enlisted. joining me is the congressman from the 31st district of texas, which of course includes the ft. hood military base representative john carter. representative carter, thank you so much for joining us and our condolences. our condolences to men and women of your district affected by this. i guess my first question is are you concerned that ft. hood has become a target in a meaningful way? i say that with of course the news from yesterday but also the fact that i think a lot of people are not aware of this, in 2012, an army private named nasir jason abda uz sentenced to life for trying to detonate an explosive at a restaurant frequented by ft. hood soldiers. last month another ft. hood soldier, jason garthwait was ought caught with explosive

materials in his home. how concerned are you about this base in krour district? >> i'm very concerned. we should be concerned. first let's talk about ft. hood. they've put probably as many war fighters or more war fighters than any single post in america. it's one of the largest posts in america. multiple, multiple deployments, sometimes people four, five, six deployments. so we've been in a fight at ft. hood since the beginning and throughout the entire process, both in afghanistan and iraq. so in reality, we're sort of a symbol of the war fighters of america. >> yeah, that's an important point. i mean, given the fact it is the u.s.' largest military base, sprawling 340 square miles, 150,000 civilian families on the base, representative carter, i guess i ask you as a leader from the district, what do you say to the men and women there and how do you give them -- how do you help them return to a sense of

safety, that they can walk around and their lives will not be in danger? what can you say to them in the aftermath of something like this? not but five years after a massacre in the very same place? >> what i said last time, do not hesitate to seek help. one of the issues we have very, very proud warriors, and sometimes they try to weather their way through incidents rather than reporting them for fear that someone might feel they show weakness. and there's no weakness in seeking help. and the army takes this policy in a big way right now. and i encourage them to seek the resources that the army provides. i encourage them to -- if they have faith leaders in their faith, to go to their faith and rely upon their faith, to join together arm and arm with their neighbors in the parker heights

area, support our soldiers very strongly, and realize you've got friends right here at home who are here and willing to help. >> congressman, i want to bring in from philadelphia former democratic congressman from that state and a veteran of the iraq war, patrick murphy. as always, good to see you, although under this cloud it is a serious and tough time to be talking about our armed services. i wonder what you make of that statistic. i don't think a lot of people are familiar with the fact that nearly 1 in 5 u.s. army soldiers had mental illnesses before they enlisted. does that surprise you? and what do you make of that? >> alex, that report just came out recently. and it was a little surprising, frankly, especially because it's so hard the vetting process to get in the military. but, you know, you have to remember at the same token there is an incredible burden placed on less than 1% of americans because it's less than 1% that

have served in iraq or afghanistan. 2.6 million americans. and many of them on multiple deployments. i know this specialist lopez, he deployed earlier to the sinai and then deployed the second time to iraq. now, i also know, alex, they say, you know, he didn't see combat. well, let me tell you, i was in the south central baghdad, so we had mortars almost all the time, almost every night, and going down ambush alley was not a pleasant experience. but just. because you don't get shot at doesn't mean you don't see combat. the stress of driving down the street and the number-one killer of our soldiers are these roadside bombs, these ieds. it's an incredible amount of stress away the your family and loved ones and unfortunately it helped result in this incredible tragedy at ft. hood. >> patrick, i think one of the things a lot of people don't understand either are the sort of stresses put on soldiers and how they differ between the war

in iraq and our engagement in afghanistan. there's really interesting chart we have from the u.s. department of veterans affairs. and you look at the traumas experienced by the iraq veterans there in the dark blue, the afghanistan veterans in the light blue. iraq veterans much more broadly saw dead bodies, were shot at, were attacked or ambushed. you are an iraq war veteran. that experience seems very, very different from what folks in afghanistan saw. and even if you were not in combat, being exposed to those things, you know, i think it could be very probable cause for some kind of depression or anxiety or stress. >> no doubt, alex. and mostly because especially in iraq and, you know, again i was in baghdad, it's an urban setting, and you're leading these convoys through the middle of the city. there are people most times with what looks like hostile intent. and so it was an incredible

amount of stress. listen, gan is no weather wauk in the park as you know. i know you're not saying that but the terrain is much more rugged, much more spread out. there are still border attacks, et cetera. but the bottom line is, alex, most americans don't understand, afghanistan has been the longest war in american history. and we still have tens of thousands of americans over there. it's about time they bring them home. sending these young men and women time and time and time and time again into harm's way is not keeping us safe here at home. it's time to bring thome home. >> congressman carter, let me go back to you. i know today the president signed a $1.1 billion in mental health funding as part of the medicare -- part of the doc fix bill. there is renewed interest after all of these horrific events in what we do to support people and give them access to mental health services.

but one would sense that there really needs to be a specific effort targeted towards veterans, service member, people who are seeing combat, even people who are not seeing combat. i wonder, is there any groundswell in congress in the hour since this happened at ft. hood to better attend to our service members in terms of mental health? >> first let's say this. for the last five years we trussed up mental health more than any other section in the defense budget -- sorry in the appropriations committee and i'm well aware of that. we are well aware of the responsibilities we have towards the mel issues with our troops. congressman murphy is absolutely right. just serving even for a four-month period of time i have a command sergeant major who works in my office and he stated that he was there and he was a truck driver. you may not call it combat. but it's combat. >> you know what, i think this

presser at ft. hood is about to begin. let us take a listen in. >> -- from last night. i'm colonel christopher garver, ft. hood public affairs officer. i'd like to introduce lun general mark a. millie, commander of u.s. 3rd corps in ft. hood and senator john cornyn. they'll make remarks and take questions after that. please raise your hand, wait to be called on, and then we'll take remarks and move from there. so without further ado, general millie and senator cornyn. >> good afternoon. again, condolences to the families of the fallen and our compassion and condolences for all of those who were injured in this affair for all their

families. we're working closely with all of them at this time. right now i'd like the provide you an update. i won't repeat the information i provided last night, but an update, short update on the shooting incident that happened yesterday. first, i want to announce that we have positively identified and we are able to release and next of kin has been notified the alleged shooter, specialist ivan a. lopez. he is 34 years old, originally from puerto rico, specialist lopez was assigned to the 49th transportation movement control battalion of the 13th sustainment brigade. and, again, his next of kin notification has been complete. we will be publishing later on this afternoon, this evening specialist lopez's releasable service record. and you can find that on ft. hood press center dotcom.

in regard to his medical status, out of respect to his family, i will not say anything further than the comments that i made yesterday. as for the investigation, criminal investigation, division of the united states army, continues as the lead investigating agency. and they are right now synchronizing all of the investigative work of the federal, state, local, and army agencies throughout ft. hood and the surrounding area. they are interviewing witnesses and that is an ongoing and active investigation. i would ask that everyone avoid speculation about the incident and let the investigation and the investigators take their course. many of those are also -- many

of those soldiers are also witnesses and i would ask the media to respect the integrity of the investigation to try to stay clear of soldiers who may have been witnesses. and as i stated last night, at this point we have not yet ruled out anything whatsoever. and we are committed to letting the investigation run its course. but we have, again, no indications at this time of any links to terrorist organizations, of any type, either national or international. i just returned from visiting with our wounded soldiers and i'd like to thank publicly the great professional support that we've gotten from the entire medical staff at scott & white. tremendous effort by all of them, the medevac pilots and also the great professional medical effort that was done here on ft. hood at darnell. there are casualties still there

and casualties still being treated at scott & white and they are getting world-class medical care and we appreciate all of that. currently we have 16 wounded soldiers, and as we said yesterday, four killed, the shooter, and three victims. of the 16 soldiers, 9 of them are at scott & white currently and three are at darnell. four of the soldiers have already been released. but we're planning a memorial ceremony for early next week and we will keep you advised of when that is to honor our fallen. i'd also like to thank the outpouring of support from the central texas community and the entire state of texas and from all of our national leadership within the military and our civilian leadership at the national level. everyone is chipping in to try to assist in any way they can. and i would recommend that any individual wanting to donate support in any manner, shape, or

form contact the ft. hood pao that's on the facebook page and they can point you in the right direction. but a variety of organizations from the uso, the red cross, and a wide variety of other organizations are providing assistance right now and we deeply appreciate their support as well. with that i'll take questions after i turn this over to senator cornyn, but again i ask that you keep the fallen and the families of the fallen along with the wounded and the families of the wounded in your thoughts and prayers. thank you very much. >> general millie, thank you for your strong and steady leadership during difficult times both here and assignment abroad where we last met. i'm back here in ft. hood for the second time in about 4 1/2 years, and what i see is a community that has come together in a time of crisis and heartbreak and is pulling

together. but this community is no stranger to hardship and challenges, and they have risen and met the test each and every time. and i know they will do that again. but i'm here today to offer my support to my stilts and certainly the military leadership as they conduct their investigations in a very deliberate and careful sort of way, not jumping to conclusions but seeing this thing through to the very end. as i know they will and we will. but i look forward not only to the briefing that i just had with general millie but also having a chance to meet with the first responders, the people who showed up and confronted this crisis and dealt with it as professionals. and then i look forward to having a chance with general millie to visit some of the wounded and perhaps to help comfort some of the families of those who are fallen.

>> so with that, be happy to take a few questions. sir. [ inaudible question ] i'll wait until the investigation confirms that to me. i have some reports to that effect, but i don't have confirmation. yes, sir. [ inaudible question ] no. he was transferred to ft. hood from ft. bliss. he was assigned to a unit at ft. bliss, texas. he was reclassified into another while he was at ft. bliss, he was an infantryman. he reclassified into 88 vehicle operator and came to ft. hood under that mos. he was not being transferred here to be assigned ed ted to . [ inaudible question ] no.

that is not the reason why he was transferred. that is not the reason why he was transferred. thank you. thank you. [ inaudible question ] we're looking into that right now. yeah. there are reports of that, trying to confirm or deny that exactly. >> didn't the specialist back in puerto rico say he was upset he was given only 22 hours by the military to attend his mother's funeral? what exactly were the terms of his sflooef. >> -- leave? >> i don't have the details of that right now. [ inaudible question ] >> going to have to say that again, please. [ inaudible question ] no. the unit mission was complete at four months.

[ inaudible question ] i do not know. [ inaudible question ] at this time there's no change in the d.o.d. policy that i'm aware of in terms of carrying weapons on a military installati installation. [ inaudible question ] we have very strong evidence that he had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological commission, going through all the records to ensure that that is in fact correct. we believe that to be the fundamental underlying cause. [ inaudible question ] no specifics incidents, that's

correct, that i'm aware of at ft. bliss. [ inaudible question ] not that i'm aware of. [ inaudible question ] not that i'm aware of, no. [ inaudible question ] that's correct. [ inaudible question ] i'm sorry? [ inaudible question ] we're looking into that, trying to figure out what the trigger event was. it was mentioned yesterday there may have been a verbal altercation with another soldier or soldiers and there's a strong possibility that that, in fact, immediately preceded the shooting. we do not have that definitively at this point but we have strong indications. [ inaudible question ]

i'm not sure i understood the question. [ inaudible question ] he has not registered a weapon on ft. hood. that's correct. [ inaudible question ] as you know, ft. hood is a big installation. we've got about 70,000 or 80,000 folks here that work on a day-to-day basis. there's another 40,000 family members, add on to that retirees, contractors, and others. we've got to population well over 100,000 here. it would not be realist toik do a pat-down search on every single soldier and employee on ft. hood far weapon on a daily basis. that would be unrealistic. thank you. [ inaudible question ] the female mp and then we'll come back to your question for the senator. but there were several instances here of clear heroism. i would cite that female mp, we

won't release her name yet, she's germane to the investigation, but she clearly performed her duty exceptionally well. but there's others. there were folks inside some of these buildings who performed very heroic personal acts in saving others. there's at least one chaplain that i'm aware of that shielded and saved other soldiers, broke some windows, got them to safety. i think the performance of the medical staff, the initial performance of medical staff at darnell was exceptional. i've seen a lot of medical staffs perform in combat, and the performance at darnell and the performance and scott & white easily rose to those levels of cam bat standards. an awful lot of heroism out there, and yes, she did fire a weapon. go ahead. [ inaudible question ] we've got all the commands, all

the information throughout day to day but all my reports and my personal observations so far, you've got an installation that's strong, resilient, we're professional soldiers, a very high percentage of combat veterans here, so the morale of soldiers is serious, it's professional, and we're going about our duties and take care of this and move on and take care of the families. [ inaudible question ] go ahead. [ inaudible question ] no indication at this point, no indication that he's targeted specific people. i'll await the investigation. i think someone had a -- yeah. go ahead. [ inaudible question ] well, general millie's job is to carry out the policy of department of defense now, but i'm confident there will be a thorough review of that policy and the military will make the best judgment what needs to

happen in order to protect people on base. so i respect general millie's position. i respect the importance of doing that thorough review to see if there are any gaps or any things that need to be corrected in future policy. [ inaudible question ] we're doing to do a thorough investigation of all systems including a medical to ensure there's no gaps or seams. we do know that he was under treatment so he was in the system and he was being looked at. [ inaudible question ] i think that's too early to tell and i'll wait till we get the investigators in here. the professional medical investigators tell me whether there's gaps in that particular

system. [ inaudible question ] [ inaudible question ] i do not know that. [ inaudible question ] do not know. we'll wait till the official investigation comes out, determine whether it's premeditated or not. [ inaudible question ] i'm sorry. go ahead. [ inaudible question ] yeah. she responded to the scene. let me back up. at 1616 hours yesterday is the first 911 call. that call was made by two wounded soldiers who in and of themselves demonstrated heroism and presence of mind to go ahead and make a 911 call. i talked to both of them down at

scott & white. the shooting began just a few minutes prior to that and they were able to get that call. she arrived with her vehicle at 1620 hours, she arrived four minutes after that 9 1 call and she began working with scene with other law enforcement that began to show up. a short time later the shooter showed up, approached her at approximately 20 feet and as i described yesterday put his hands up, then went down, and underneath his jacket pulled out the .45 smith & wesson weapon, she saw that, interpreted that as a threat correctly so, then engaged him with small arms fire, at which time the shooter did a self-inflicted gunshot wound. [ inaudible question ] yeah. i doubt it based on her rank. but i don't know the answer to that. [ inaudible question ] yes.

[ inaudible question ] i'm sorry? [ inaudible question ] yes. [ inaudible question ] close. [ inaudible question ] close. [ inaudible question ] sorry? [ inaudible question ] no. at this point i'd like not to shed any light on that as that's being fully developed as part of the investigation. thanks. let me go over on this side here. that would be real speculation and i'm not going to engage in that. [ inaudible question ] we're looking at all the factors, finance, medical, personal relationships, marital

issues, family health issues, those sorts of things. we're looking all over for that. [ inaudible question ] i'm sorry. did she strike him? [ inaudible question ] i don't have the full autopsy report at this time so i do not know if there's other wounds or not other than the self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. [ inaudible question [ inaudible question ] i don't have all those rules defined yet. hang on. [ inaudible question ] just what i said he did, shielded some individuals, took control of the situation, a broke window, and got them out to safety. yes, ma'am.

[ inaudible question ] i couldn't hear the question. say that again? >> the leave request apparently canceled, why did that happen? >> i don't know that. i don't know the facts on that report of a leave request yet. that's being developed by the investigators, so i don't want to comment on that until i get accurate information on it. [ inaudible question ] no. there's no connection to that that we know of. she was not wounded. [ inaudible question ] going to have to speak up. [ inaudible question ] i don't know. we've got local law enforcement checking all of that. yes. [ inaudible question ] no indications of any of that.

[ inaudible question ] he went into the 49th transportation headquarters building. yes, ma'am. [ inaudible question ] he purchased the weapon from gun gas lower on 1 march. that's correct. [ inaudible question ] i'm sorry? [ inaudible question ] 1 march. [ inaudible question ]

well, mental health issues are the most vexing issues from my perspective in terms of how do we identify people who have genuine problems that need to be treated and need to be -- that they need to be helped with. but i think at the same time we have to be very careful and not paint with too broad a brush and assume because someone has been in combat that they necessarily have those issues. we shouldn't stigmatize healthy people who are resilient, able to deal with those stresses. we ought to identify those people the best we can who do need help and get them the help that they need. and this remains one of the -- to me one of the most vexing but also one of the most urgent issues not just with regard to the military but with many of the mass shooting incidents we've seen not just on our military installations but in our country period. >> take two more questions. [ inaudible question ]

>> the debate about and discussion about how to deal with the veterans and active military duty's mental health issues is one that's been ongoing for at least 13 years with special intensity because of afghanistan and iraq. but it's not going to abate my senses. it's going to accelerate the debate and the scrutiny of the investigation. we'll need to heighten. we'll need to deal with it more extension wich it. this is a challenging issue and one we can't shrink from and we won't. >> one more question from over here. there's no indications at this time that he's targeted specific soldiers. last question. go ahead. [ inaudible question ] >> we do and we're developing

exact sequence what building step by step and i'm not prepared to release that at this time. okay. thank you very much. i appreciate that. we'll do this again tomorrow. thank you. >> that was the commanding general at ft. hood, mark millie and texas senator john cornyn. the key take away from that press conference, they have a positive i.d. on the shooter, a man named specialist ivan a. lopez, who was 34 years old, originally from puerto rico. he was assigned to the 48th transportation movement. his next of kin has been notified and ft. hood officials will be publishing specialist lopez's releasable service record later tonight on ft. hood press center dotcom. there are no indications as yet of links to terrorism or international -- terrorism either international or national. as far as the injuries from the ft. hood soot shooting. there were 16 wounded soldiers in total.

nine are at scott & white white, three at dar neal medical center and four have been released. there is a memorial ceremony planned for early next week and authorities are trying to figure out what the trigger was for this massacre. there are strong indications that there may have been a verbal altercation prior to the shooting. still with me is congressman john carter and iraq war veteran, former congressman patrick murphy. congressman carter, certainly, you know, speculation is rampant after things like this. i thought one of the things senator cornyn was right to point out, when we begin to talk about mental illness, it is important not to stigmatize members of the military, service people who have seen combat. at the same time you want to create an environment where those men and women who are having issues, who are depressed, may be feeling stressed, can feel comfortable enough to come and seek the promote medical attention. what would your message be to the armed servicemen and women of your district at this moment? >> i don't mean to repeat myself

and take advantage of the resources that are available and be willing to, if you've got a problem, be willing to admit it. one of the hardest things for soldiers to do. and we're having to break the culture and we've done a pretty good job of it but we need the families, the friends, the loved ones to encourage our soldiers that to seek help is very important and mental health issues are ongoing, quite honestly, it's good the president gave more funds. we could always use more funds to try to help strengthen the mental health of our fighting forces. >> congressman murphy, "the guardian" in the uk points out perhaps one of the inefficient or an area where we could do better as a country. in terms of helping and supporting our service members. "the guardian" points out one of the problems in the united states is that the military will fund treatment for ptsd but is

less enthusiastic, as they say, about investing in treatment of other mental illnesses. and so because of that, doctors sympathetic to the troops will often place those being treated in the category of having ptsd so that they can actually get their medical bills paid. do you think we're closer to having a more nuanced understanding of the stresses placed upon soldiers and will fund the treatment for those problems? >> yeah, alex. listen, i think it is nuanced, but at the end of the day, we have to have all hands on deck to address this. there are hundreds of thousands of iraq and afghanistan veterans who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury. as was reported in this press conference. specialist lopez self-reported a tbi case, traumatic brain injury, from his four months in iraq and he was getting treatment, he was on drugs. there was arguments and some evidence he was on ambien. at the end of the day, this

isn't just a military problem. this is our country set these men and women in harm's way. it's our responsibility collectively to answer it. i do want to say congressman carter is absolutely right. the va funding is gone before president obama got in there, just under $100 billion a year now it's about $150 billion a year so, basically a 50% increase, which is tremendous. i should say $100 billion. but it takes more than that, alex. it takes all of us coming together and making sure we're aggressive about this. >> congressman murphy, to go back to the events of yesterday for a moment, there are many persons of interests here but one of the people i think we'll be discussing more in the coming weeks and days is the female military police officer who apparently engaged in small arms fire with the presumed shooter. she was apparently not wounded. sounds like she is one of the heroes, probably one of many

heroes we have not heard about but she is one of the major heros in this story in terms of preventing further violence and casualties. in terms of a military police officer, you've had experience in combat and you know what it's like to be on a base. what position, what rule do these kind of police officers play on a military installation? >> well, they're just like civilian police officers. but they are soldiers. so every soldier in the army you're a soldier first and then you have what's alled your mos, military occupational specialty, basically what your job is. her job, this hero's job was to make sure she's in uniform as a military police officer, responded within this instance within four minutes, engage a target, made sure that he was hostile and fired a weapon. whether her shooting at him was his cause of death or cause his own death, it's unclear. but there is no doubt that this

military police officer, this female answered the call of duty in an heroic sense when this shooter was at two different sites -- one site and killed people, was at another site. she got there within four minutes, engaged that target, specialist lopez, and made sure she took him out. and i can't wait to hear more about it. i owe the general said they didn't want to release her name right now because she's part of the investigation, which is natural, but the crux of your question, alex, is she's just like everybody else except her job is to keep that community safe there at ft. hood safe. >> just like everybody else with, of course, the exception of her extraordinary act of heroism. congressman john carter and former congressman patrick murphy, thanks for your time and thoughts. >> thank you. >> after the break, the senate intelligence committee just voted to declassify a potentially explosive report on the cia's torture program. and now the ball is in the white house's court.

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one person, one vote. that is the ideal of the american political system and it's one we are supposed to uphold. but yesterday when the supreme court struck down aggregate limits on campaign donations in mccutchen versus the s.e.c., one person, one vote turned into something like $1, one vote. before yesterday's ruling for nearly 40 years, individual donors were limited to donating $48,600 to house and senate candidates in a single election cycle. by the way, there weren't a ton of people itching to give more than that. last year only 1,715 donors gave the maximum to political party committees and only 591 people gave maximum to candidates.

refashioning the law for a very small almost minuscule wealthy minority is exactly what the supreme court has done. and now in a post-mccutchen world, a single donor can give as much as $2.4 million, giving to as many candidates as he or she likes. before this decision, a single donor couldn't give more than $74,600 to a party committee or a pac. now they can give as much as $1.2 million to committees and some $13.7 million to pacs. one dollar, one vote. joining me now is political reporter at "the new york times" and "washington post" columnist and senior fellow of government studies at the brookings institute, e.j. dion. nick, let me start with you. i find it a source of great consternation that even more money will be in the american political system, but there are a group of people on both sides of the aisle who would argue that this, in fact, may lead to more transparency insofar as

money would go to officially to candidates or party coffers rather than shadowy outside groups. do you think this could lead to more transparency? >> i will amend that slightly. i think this is going to bring a flood of new dollars into the party and candidate system, and, yes, that new money will flow through disclosed channels. party committees, candidate committees pacs. so we'll be able to see it. but i don't believe it's going to take much money out of superpacs or out of those secretive political nonprofits. it's just going to give a new avenue to give more money directly to candidates and parties. >> e.j., it seems fairly obvious that one party stands to benefit more than another based on track records in recent history. which is to say conservatives, conservative donors and wealthy individuals on the right side of the aisle. would you disagree with that assessment?

>> i wouldn't, alex. just on that transparency point i want to pick up on, and congratulations, nick, a great explainer in "the new york times." it's a great piece. to say this improves transparency is like somebody insulting you and then saying, well, at least i'm honest. the reason they have all this dark money is because citizens united and lax regulation by the federal election commission has allowed it to happen. so now that we're letting this tiny number of people give money openly as well as in a secret way we're supposed to be grateful for that. that's kind of crazy to me. and yes, you're absolutely right, alex. i think the history is that these wealthy donors have given much more to the republican party than the democratic party. but let's assume that there are quite a few rich democrats out there. and let's assume some of them step up.

it e it still really skews the political system because those wealthy donors are far more to be concerned about the environment, say, or social issues. there aren't a whole lot of wealthy donor, a few, maybe, who care about issues like the minimum wage and, you know, lord knows we know that people who work for minimum wage are not going to give this amount of money. so even if the party funding is not as lopsided as we might expect, it still pushes the political system toward the concerns of very rich people and away from people who can't give much or anything at all to politics. >> but on that note, e.j., i mean, the conservatives often point to unions which tend to be big donors in political campaigns. but nick, you know this better than anyone else, the power of unions is on a steady decline. i mean how much money can the left truly put up in response to the right?

>> if you look at this as bringing back a version of the soft money that we saw in the 1990s, these unlimited contributions solicited by from thes and given to party committees, it was democrat who is excelled at raising soft money in the 1990s, perhaps because a democrat was in the white house. i'm not totally sold on who benefits more. remember, only a really abashingly small number of americans give any money to politics at all. i'm not totally convinced that everybody who can give as much as possible is going to want to give as much as possible. >> yeah, and those statistics, it's 571 people in the 2012 cycle actually maxed out. this is a handful of people. but, you know, e.j., i wonder what you make of peter's point in the daily beast, i believe it was -- no, the athletlantic tod which he makes a point, this decision led by conservative justices and embraced by the right could actually come back to hawn the republican party. he notes that in the 1970s a

liberal supreme court fueled right-wing cultural pop ypopuli. today a conservative supreme court is breeding left-wing populism. we are talking more about fairness, the minimum wage, nothing has been done on those issues but it certainly seems like there is more of a ground swel, more in the ether regarding left-wing popular ideals about the american economy and american society than there has been perhaps. >> i completely agree there's been an upsurge in talk about inequality. it started with occupy wall street and then, you know, the 47% in the last campaign contributed a lot to this. the problem is a decision like this changes the structure of politics. and so here you have the supreme court that's done two things at the same time. it's so concerned about democracy they say and free speech that they're going let a small number of rich people give unlimited sums, but they're not so concerned about democracy

that they're going to leave the voting rights act intact that protects voters so they can actually cast their ballots. so you really had the supreme court in a double way kind of tilt the structure of politics away from people at the bottom of the economic structure. so, yes, i think there is a populist surge, yes, i hope there's a backlash against decisions like this, but it's going to be a little harder to do for populist politics in this new circumstance. >> nick, really quickly, i know you're not a prognosticator, but read the tea leaves here. jeffrey toobin, the venerable legal eagle says this is the roberts project, to limit burdens on wealthy donors and this will be his signature achievement. it is only a matter of time pap lot of folks say before we get rid of the supreme court, that is, gets rid of individual contributions. your thoughts on the likelihood of that. >> i think it's very possible. you know, the opinion in this case was sort of koy and

careful. it didn't quite uphold the limbs and didn't quite rule out the possibility of striking them down. but it changed the framework by which the court assesses when it's reasonable and proper to put limits on campaign spending, and that opens the door to striking those limits down in the future. >> doing some great reporting on this very subject. e.j. dion, always a pleasure to have you on the show. thank you. >> always good to be with you. just ahead, the white house faces a few major decisions. when to declassify the senate cia torture report and how much to declassify. i will speak with the guardian's spencer ackerman next. 

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lennox mobile app. lennox. innovation never felt so good. cut! [bell rings] this...is jane. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!" a highly critical assessment of bush-era torture policies is one step closer to being made public. in a much-anticipated vote, the senate intelligence committee this afternoon approved the declassification of a 480-page

summary of a report on cia detention and so-called enhanced interrogation techniques used on torture suspects. this afternoon dianne feinstein described what she called the report's shocking findings. >> the report exposes brutality that stands in stark contrast to our values as a nation. it chronicles a stain on our history that must never be allowed to happen. >> the report now goes to the white house for what is likely to be a very contentious and difficult process of review and redaction. senator feinstein says she hopes that the outcome will be as transparent as possible. >> i am very hopeful that the declassification and particularly the redactions will be as few as possible so that we can get on with it. >> feinstein also pressed for the review to be done quickly in as few as 30 days. joining me from washington is u.s. national security editor for "the forwardian" spencer

ackerman. spencer, it is a big day in terms of national security and revisiting bush-era torture policies and what they gave the nation in terms of safety. i am surprised that we are at this stage, to be honest, given the fact that dianne feinstein is leading this charge with the support of a republican like saxby chambliss. the ball now is firmly in white house court. what do you expect to happen in the administration? >> not just the white house, alex. this is going to be an executive branch review, which means the cia, the subject of this report, is going to have a lot of influence over its declassification. and that really raises a lot of questions about how much the public will actually see about this and how rapidly they'll see any of this. the sections in particular that are getting released are something like 400 to 500 pages out of the 62, 6,300-page report. >> it's worth noting, i mean, we cannot underscore how much of a -- i think a game changer, a bombshell, if you will, this

report is. as angus king said, when he said he would vote in favor of the release of the report, "it is a really hard read, it's very disappointing." he talked about institutional failure. this report alleges that the cia made inaccurate statements, it gave out highly misleading information regarding efficacy of the torture program not just to the national security council but to the president and the congress. how does john brennan manage this process? he both has to not lose the support of his own agency at the same time if he is going to carry any -- if he's to carry any respect in the higher echelons of government, he's got to be somewhat transparent about this. >> it's a real dilemma but it's not just brennan and the cia. it's the obama administration's dilemma. because this report is suppos supposedly going to document in detail acts that weren't just brutal and weren't just in their descriptions misleading to the government, they were also potentially illegal.

and the obama administration made a concerted decision from the start not to prosecute anyone as part of it. this is going to be something the obama administration is going to have to reckon with as it considers declassifying it. it's not just the political challenge to the cia. it's a political challenge to the white house. >> and it's on a signature issue. the president came into office and ended the practice of torture. he now has a chance to begin the reconciliation process though he would like to say the past is past, i think it is very much still alive for this president. how much do you think the involvement of democrats will change his calculus on how much to release, spencer, before we let you go? >> difficult to say because oftentimes on these issues the democrats look to him and now he may have to look to them to see how they're jumping. that's why dianne feinstein, normally both very pro administration and very pro cia, has been such a wild card on this. >> spencer, thanks for your time and thoughts. >> thanks, alex. >> that is all for now. see you back here tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.

\ good evening americans. live from new york, welcome to "the ed show." let's get to work. >> united states senator, much of the discussions around volkswagen coming to chattanooga, took place around my dining room table. >> it's no secret at all that, you know, we had an opinion about what should happen there. >> in fact, it was a secret to the public. >> we urge the company to go to secret ballot. >> king accuses senator bob corker of intimidating workers at the plant. >> we're also outraged that the outside interference. >> we had an interest in the outcome of that vote. >> to prove ta republicans were part of a conspiracy. >> the uaw obviously a hit dog.