the environmental protection agency has rolled out -- >> one of the toughest pollution standards in u.s. history. >> a sweeping proposal to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. >> it calls for a 30% cut from emissions by 2030. >> the science is clear, the risks are clear. >> it's expected to slow global warming but also reduce asthma and risk of heart attacks. >> we have a moral obligation to act on climate. >> what does it say that so many democrats are in fact running away from this idea? >> we'll see it play out in a big way in the midterm elections. >> this is a political gamble for democrats. >> this is the single worst blow to kentucky's economy in modern times. >> john boehner just released this statement. the president's plan is nuts. >> speaker boehner and mitch mcconnell should put their own plan on the table. >> critics claim that your energy bills will skyrocket. well, they're wrong. should i say that again?

they're wrong. it could be the most ambitious environmental initiative in u.s. history. a sweeping proposal announced today by the obama administration would require existing power plants to slash carbon emissions 30% by the year 2030. that is the equivalent of cutting the carbon pollution from nearly two-thirds of all the cars and trucks in america. by offering states flexibility in the way they comply, the administration says it's taking on the nation's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in a way that is both ambitious and achievabl achievable. and the achievements would be profound. the epa says it would generate up to $90 billion in climate and public health benefits. it would prevent up to 6600 premature deaths by removing dangerous pollutants from the air. making the announcement today, gina mccarthy said climate action is a moral imperative and it is urgent. >> this is not just about

disappearing and melting ice caps. this is about protecting and it is about protecting our homes. >> but if you ask house speaker john boehner, it is insane. that's his official assessment. the president's plan is nuts. there's really no more su succinct way to describe it. mitch mcdonnell said it was a dagger through the heart of the american middle class. a dagger through the heart. it is enough to make you long for the days of drill, baby, drill and the time when republicans, like sarah palin, took a downright reasonable approach to the climate. >> i just want to ask you, do you support capping carbon emissions? >> i do, i do. >> she did! but, boy, her party certainly doesn't anymore. joining me now is white house

council john podesta. john, is this basically the pitch and tenor of the response that you expected from republicans on this? >> well, you know, i think it's a silly response and i think that this rule is flexible. states can implement it according to their own needs. this will produce tremendous benefits for the american people. the public really understands that. the "washington post" just released a poll this afternoon that shows 70% of the american public want action, and i think that's exactly the steps that we're taking now, to give them the action that they need to get better health results, a better energy system overall in this country and to begin to do the job of addressing climate change in an extremely serious way. >> john, you've got to -- we played that tape of sarah palin, you know, saying she would be in support of capping carbon emissions to underscore the

point that republicans have come so far in the wrong direction on this issue. and the president and epa issuing these new regulations is important but also a testament to how broken the relationship is with congress and how intransigent one party has become. when will the republican party be brought around and how will they be brought to acknowledging climate change exists and doing something about it? >> as you point out, governor palin's running mate, senator mccain, had been a leader on that in the earlier part of the century, as it were, and they have now moved substantially to the right. but i think they have moved so far away from the science, so far away from public opinion, so far away from where people, you know, are feeling the impacts of climate, whether that's rising sea level, storm surge, droughts, et cetera, that they're really on the wrong side of history.

at some point they're going to have to come back to the center and address this. but in the meantime we have the president and the administration looked at the law. we have the authority to move forward under existing authority that was passed by the congress in the clean air act and we're going to take those actions. >> john, what do you say to red state democrats who are greeting this news with either caution or outright skepticism? mark -- excuse me, mary landrieu said while it is important to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, this should not be achieved by epa regulations. these are folks facing an uphill battle in the midterms. we know the white house has been very sensitive to their needs. even last week eric shinseki seemed to be a response to senate democrat concerns. what do you say to them this week when it comes to the epa. >> i'd say what the president said, we have a moral obligation to our children and grandchildren to address this issue. we're going to go ahead and take the steps to do so. i know there are people who have concerns about it, but i think again gina mccarthy has done a

tremendous job of going around the country, talking to governors, talking to regulators, talking to utilities, and this is a flexible rule that can be implemented in every state. no state gets hammered under this proposal. the epa looked at each state's resources and found a flexible path forward so that these changes can happen gradually and they'll be cost effective and cost efficient and, indeed, i think they'll create new industries and new jobs across the country. >> john, when we spoke about these upcoming regulations a few weeks ago, you promised that they would be a crown jewel, and i think you did not disappoint. >> well, this is a big step, and i think that the united states now is firmly out in the lead on both moving its energy system to a cleaner, more reliable and better system, one that will produce great public health benefits, but it's also leading the world in trying to address

this grave problem that of course is global in nature. >> white house counselor john p podesta, thanks for your time and thoughts. joining me now is bill nye, the science guy, and editor and chief of vox.com, ezra klein. bill, let me start with you here. in terms of the magnitude of these regulations, a lot of people are applauding the president and epa for going out in force, but when it comes down to actually getting america and the country -- america and the globe off of a fossil fuel-based economy, what we seem to be weaning ourselves off of is coal but our reliance on natural gas has gone up. i wonder whether you think this is enough? >> it's not enough, but the longest journey begins with but a single step. not to make too many predictions but in the next 30 years i think a lot of things will change. natural gas, if you're going to pick, is a lot better thing to burn than coal. it's twice as efficient for

making electricity and makes a lot less soot and a lot fewer health problems associated with it. it is a so-called bridge fuel. i think it's something that the coal industry really anticipated that there would be so much natural gas that the united states is now the world's biggest producer of natural gas and it's lowered the price of all kinds of fossil fuel energy. so it's a big step, though, where you're able to -- the president and his colleagues were able to convince everybody that carbon dioxide is like a pollutant. and this is a big step that is going to change things. 30% by 2030. the old number was 80% by 2050. that was a big number. but we'd sure like to do a lot faster than that in the science community. so this is a big step that i think people will get used to. as far as the red state democrats go, if i understand it, and i don't play at your level. but they have got to say what they have got to say in order to get through this election, right, so by blaming the man

they are able to kind of keep it going. >> ezra, you have a great analysis on vox. you were the one to point out the sarah palin cap in trade and we played that sound from the debate and you make a really fair point. where we were in 2008 in this sort of major reform that would have been proposed back then compared for now, it's a pretty dramatic shift and has a lot to do with republicans and just how far they have gone on this issue. >> it's actually shocking if you go back. people forget that in '08, mccain and palin ran on a platform that had a big cap in trade bill in it. and that bill or that bill alone, or proposal, i guess it wasn't a bill, was much more ambitious than what the president did today. in '08 john boehner supported a ticket that proposed to cap carbon emissions not just in power plants like we're seeing today but a deeper cap in power plants but also in industrial manufacturing, in the

transportation sector, in commercial businesses. it would have been vastly more far reaching and honestly a better proposal. now, obama had in '08 a more ambitious proposal than that but that was back then the fight. you had republicans who wanted to do a bit less than democrats. democrats who wanted to go a bit further than republicans and that was a reasonable argument to have. you had it across the entire republican party. newt gingrich had a commercial -- >> the infamous couch photo. >> which newt said was the worst mistake of his life, by the way. they both talked about how bad climate change was. george w. bush was upset people didn't think he was worried enough about it. this was not rare in the republican party. and now we're about six years later and you can't find an elected national republican who is willing to come out and say we need to do something big and serious about climate change. >> so, bill, ezra makes the important point about where we are and where the two parties are and where specifically one party is.

the clean air act when it became law in 1970, there was not a single nay vote for that. that's amazing. am i doing my math right? 44 years ago. >> now, you don't remember this, but people died in their sleep. people were breathing bad air, so there was a lot of commonality there. i think we are reaching a turning point, a tipping point in climate legislation around the world. i think if the united states can be a leader in this, it will change everything. just imagine if we invested in better batteries. you talk about market pressure. see, that's what i think is happening to the coal industry and that's why these guys, the red state republicans, are -- >> red state democrats. >> was they didn't anticipate gas was going to undermine coal. i guess that's a pun. >> a science pun. >> so if we had solar systems and wind systems on a smart grid that lowered the price of

energy, especially in the sunny states in the southwest, it would put market pressure on even the natural gas industry. so we can all hope for that. but today is kind of a big deal, as the saying goes. >> and i don't want to underplay that, ezra. there's also -- pew has a poll that breaks down policy by demographic groups. and this, i think, is an important thing to keep in mind. politico quotes dems who say the short-term politics of the epa regulations are manageable because in the long term there's thinking that the coalition that agrees that climate change is real and would like to do something about it is the coalition of the voters of the future. 73% of people aged 18 to 29 believe the earth is warming, 76 of hispanics, 67% of college educated whites. i mean this is the america of tomorrow and there is broad argument that this is happening. >> i'm going to be just a little pessimistic for a second. the problem with global warming, the reason it's different than any other issue like the deficit or anything else we do, we can

get to a point where we can't fix it anymore. so it's good to have the coalition of the future be there for it. but if this is like health care where we have to wait 80 years to get a bill, there is an urge ens here and we actually have to do something big quickly. we can't wait for the political system to catch up with the people who have to actually live through the consequences of this. >> bill, in terms of the global community, doesn't this help us make the case to china and india that they need to do something about their emissions. >> this is my claim, that everybody would follow. if the u.s. had the forward-thinking technology, everybody would come along. if you like to feel guilty about things, the problem ezra is alluding to is we've already put so much carbon dioxide in the air, that we owe it to everybody so let go of the china-india issue, it's a tiny fraction of the worldwide problem. the big thing is to be leaders, and today is part of that. i think as you started to say, the young republicans of

tomorrow, there's going to be a huge opportunity for those people to step in. moderate republicans are going to be able to run on this issue. this may be wild-eyed delusional, but i've got a feeling that the problem when you have norfolk, virginia, sinking -- >> we have miami sinking. when you have new york being battered by hurricanes. >> but as ezra pointed out, it's going to be a lot of trouble, a lot of trouble ahead. but the longest journey. >> choppy seas, long journeys. bill nye and ezra klein, thank you so much for your time, guys. >> thank you. >> thank you. after the break, the issa man goeth. he finally puts down his torch in the benghazi witch hunting, graciously with a parting cheap shot. that's next on "now." is the better choice for him, to prove e he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills.

♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. ♪ hoall we do is go out to dinner. that's it? i mean, he picks up the tab every time, which is great...what? he's using you. he probably has a citi thankyou card and gets 2x the points at restaurants. so he's just racking up points with me. some people... ugh! no, i've got it. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on dining out and entertainment, with no annual fee. to apply, go to citi.com/thankyoucards became big business overnight? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪

or not? what if they embrace new technology instead? ♪ imagine a company's future with the future of trading. company profile. a research tool on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. a research tool on thinkorswim. peace of mind is important when so we provide it services you bucan rely on. with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. centurylink. your link to what's next.

remember when house oversight committee chair darrell issa was shut out of a seat on the house select committee on benghazi? and remember when he went ahead anyway and subpoenaed secretary of state john kerry despite the fact that his fellow republicans had just formed a committee to do that very thing? as it turns out, just because you weren't invited to the prom does not mean you should throw your own backyard kegger. the grand ole party did not appreciate congressman issa's fully transparent attempts to get in on the benghazi bash. soon as issa's subpoena was issued, a state department spokesperson told reporters that kerry would appear once, either at the select committee or at darrell issa's hearing. awkward. on friday afternoon issa whether from pressure or humiliation or a hard dose of reality, chairman issa gave up. he called off secretary kerry's

subpoena, but not before getting in a trademark cheap shot. it's been disappointing to watch a long serving former senator, like secretary kerry, squirm his way to what i'm doing today, issa said in a statement, adding getting the final truth is what matters. the select committee is the house of representatives commitment to getting this truth. issa still does not have a seat on that select committee, but doesn't he wish someone would invite him? though he did at least get a little love from the republican powers that be. instead of calling his shenanigans out for what they were, deputy whip pete roscum generously called issa's bungle a procedural snafu. does the release of p.o.w. bowe bergdahl signal the beginning of the end of gitmo? i'll ask the daily beast's josh rogen and sam stein about the real goal behind the exchange coming up next.

ahhh. beautiful day in baltimore where most people probably know that geico could save them money on car insurance, right? you see the thing is geico, well, could help them save on boat insurance too. hey! okay...i'm ready to come in now. hello? i'm trying my best. seriously, i'm...i'm serious. request to come ashore. geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business.

but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪

here you go. good catch! alright, now for the best part. ooh, let's get those in the bowl. these are way too good to waste, right? share what you love with who you love. kellogg's frosted flakes® they're g-r-r-reat!tm

48 hours after america's only prisoner of war, 28-year-old bowe bergdahl, was freed from years of captivity under afghan militants in exchange for five taliban prisoners, celebration has turned into political battle. already republican members of congress are accusing the administration of breaking the law, a law that requires the defense secretary to notify congress at least 30 days before making any prisoner transfers. the white house insists that it had to move quickly with the transfer in order to save sergeant bergdahl's life, a line buck mckeon is not buying. >> my perception is, i think in the eyes of many, he broke the law by not informing congress 30 days before. we will be holding hearings. i'm sorry that this is being portrayed as a republican issue.

i think democrats also voted for this law. this is not a partisan issue, it's just a matter of the law and breaking the law. >> legality isn't the only thing critics are taking issue with. given that the five taliban prisoners released were said to be some of the most dangerous prisoners held at gitmo, questions are emerging as to whether negotiating with the taliban was really the right thing to do. >> if you negotiate here, you've sent a message to every al qaeda group in the world that there is some value now in that hostage in a way that they didn't have before. that is dangerous. >> i do not think the way to deal with terrorists is through releasing other violent terrorists. >> these are the highest high-risk people. it is disturbing that these individuals would have the ability to re-enter the fight and they are big, high-level people, possibly responsible for the deaths of thousands. >> joining me now is political editor and white house correspondent at the huffington post, sam stein, and senior

national correspondent for "the daily beast" josh rogin. you make the case fairly eloquently today in "the daily beast" that one of the motivations behind this back and forth is trying to close guantanamo bay. tell us more about that thesis. >> thanks. what we were able to report today in "the daily beast" is there's a lot of concern on capitol hill, mostly among republicans that now that president obama has shown that he can release dangerous taliban prisoners from guantanamo and congress can't really do anything to stop him, that he might use this authority to pursue further releases in advance of his stated goal in his state of the union address, to close the prison by the end of the year, at least get as close as he can. now, congress voluntarily gave up a lot of its oversight authority last year in the defense bill and now there's buyer's remorse as they realize they really don't have any power to enforce what seems to be the administration ignoring the law about notification. but the problem is congress will

be hard pressed to act in the next few months because there's nothing going on in terms of congressional bills, so any changes that they want to make to tighten the restrictions on releasing gitmo prisoners won't come until after the year is over. so obama does have a free hand here. it's not clear if he's going to use it but that's the concern on capitol hill that this could be the first of a series of releases from guantanamo. >> sam, how did you read this? dan murphy makes this point. dealing with people you find odious, the taliban, is how most wars end. we know the president's focus has been on the winddown of the war, not only with his speech at west point but his trip to bagram on sunday. how did you interrupt the goings on this weekend? >> i interpreted it that this is probably the worst issue possible to debate over twitter.

it's not something that lends itself well to 140 characters. there's nuance and trade-offs when you do prison exchanges like this. it makes for people being disappointed on each side but no position is absolute in this case. i was talking to some administration officials about this and they made that same point. they said this is how you end hostilities. what is the alternative, leave him there as a prisoner of war? send in a group of soldiers to extricate him through military means? there's risks to that too. it's an incredibly complex issue that we're looking at through a very partisan lens and it's almost uncomfortable in a way. >> but, josh, when we talk about our enemies and winding down wars, what kind of import to you put on this back and forth with the taliban? in a statement after the release of the taliban prisoners in gitmo said we shall thank almighty for this great victory. the white house has been very

careful to say this does not represent anything broader in terms of negotiations with the taliban, but do you think it does? >> first of all, the taliban claims victory for everything so we shouldn't put all our faith in taliban statements. but sam is exactly right that the context here is that we have long had relations with the taliban. we did negotiate directly with them. the state department and the white house in 2011 and 2012 on this issue. the deal at that time under hillary clinton's state department was that this prisoner swap would be a confidence-building measure towards a broader reconciliation with the taliban. the taliban didn't want that deal, they just wanted a prisoner swap. ultimately that's what they got. so the goal has always been to negotiate with the taliban. this is not precedent setting. there are lots of other americans imprisoned all over the world we are not making deals for. this is a special case because he was an american troop captured in a conflict and the bottom line is, yes, we talk with odious people all the time.

that's how the real world works. >> sam, one of the things that makes this politically inconvenient for republicans who are critical of this move is that if you criticize the administration's move you have to criticize the release of an american p.o.w. what we've begun to see in the past few hours, past few days is a sort of caveat about whether or not bowe bergdahl is in fact an american p.o.w. in the classic sense of the word. there's a lot of questioning about whether or not he left the base, whether or not he deserted his country's forces. it brings to mind michael hastings' 2009 piece which featured an e-mail bergdahl wrote to his parents. i'm sorry foefr everything here. these people get the most con seated country in the world saying they are nothing, they are stupid and they have no way to live.

>> this brings me back to my gray area point and there's complexities to him. he clearly -- he obviously wandered off the base. there's questions about whether he deserted. we lost soldiers in an effort to track him down to find him. people were mining his father's twitter account last night, pulling up old tweets of him being critical of u.s. foreign policy, calling for the release of prisoners at gitmo, so it's not as if he's this hollywood creation of an ideal soldier. clearly there's issues. you look around and say what's the alternative. should we have left him in a taliban prison and said, you know what, you deserted your base, you serve to stay there? of course not. there's complexities to the issue. the administration made a judgment call as to whether or not -- as to how much they should give up in getting him back and there's people who are bound to be critical of it as there are people who are bound to cheer it. >> sam stein and josh rogin, thanks for pointing out the complexity of the situation.

up next, bowe bergdahl faces a very uncertain future back in the united states. i will talk with one of the freed american hikers held in iran, josh fattal, about life during and after captivity when he joins me live in studio right after this.

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!" bowe has been gone so long, that it's going to be very difficult to come back. it's like a diver going deep on a dive and has to stage back up through recompression to get the nitrogen bubbles out of his system. if he comes up too fast, it could kill him. >> that was sergeant bowe bergdahl's father yesterday speaking to just how long his son's road to recovery will be now that he has been released. after nearly five years of captivity in afghanistan, as the sole american prisoner of war, sergeant bergdahl is being

treated at landstuhl regional medical center in germany. it is unclear how long it will take until bowe is ready to come home. joining me is josh fattal, who is the co-author of "a sliver of light." joshua, it's great to see you. let me just first talk to you about this moment when you're freed. and the drama and the relief and probably the fear. you know, what went through your head? >> that moment of being released nothing was going through my head. i was just floating through space in my parents' arms. the moment i was released, i was running down the airplane steps into my family's arms. they were in oman and so we spent a few days there but i immediately got back to my family. >> that halfway point between where you were and where you're going, which is the united states, what is that period like. you're sort of sequestered but the media has started its

drumbeat. what's that like? >> well, it was a helpful few days because we got to go out to a restaurant and sort of feel the difficulty of making choices about what i'm going to eat for the first time in years, that sort of thing. we got to go to the beach and experience the beauty that i hadn't seen for a long time. so it was a -- it was a helpful few days. and i was with my family, so we started to have those conversations that we had been wanting to have forever. but it really takes a long time to actually have the depth of conversations and to get at what the experience was like for me and to hear from my family what it was like for them. >> given the fact that your family was with you in that sort of critical re-entry period, were you surprised that bergdahl's family has not seen him and they really haven't communicated with him yet? >> yeah, i'm surprised. i'm sure they have -- they're trying to show that they have some big plan for him, trying to make up for their -- how they look about treating veterans in

the recent scandal, so they're trying to look like they have a plan and they know what they're doing. but i think it is smart to take a good amount of time. >> there is a debriefing period, right, where the u.s. government wants to know as much information as you have. you were in an iranian prison, obviously, there are a lot of questions about what's going on in iran. what was that experience like, to the degree that you can talk about it? >> one of the first things someone came up and wanted the fbi to speak to us. i didn't want to talk to the fbi. i had just been accused of being a spy for the u.s. and i -- you know, i didn't want to work for the u.s. intelligence agency. so it's such a different situation than him. you know, he is -- i guess he had his own qualms around it but he put on a uniform and carried a gun and was invading or occupying another country. i took a mistaken hiking trip.

so, you know, i refused to talk to the fbi at that point, just wanted to be with my family. that was my re-entry. >> and tell us, you know, about coming back to the states and what that was like after, you know, years of captivity, deprivation -- sensory deprivation, emotional deprivation, you know, physical deprivation. that readjustment period, i would imagine continues to go on today. >> i'm still getting my head around it. and there's things that come up in the first few weeks, the first few months. i figure out how to make choices about going to a restaurant. i figured out how to renew my license, go to the bank, get everything in order. it takes a few months to get life in order and figure out how. the first plan, where we're going to live and that stuff. and there's stuff that sticks with you a long time. even now this stuff with the u.s.-iran negotiations, that

stuff is personal. politics becomes personal at that point where as people in congress are trying to sabotage the potential peace agreement between the two countries and that keeps me up at night now and i'm sure that will happen to him thinking about middle eastern politics. the other thing is probably the most important and probably the most healing thing in the whole time is trying to come back to having free relationships. the only relationships are with these captors that you hate or that you like have this tortured relationship with. and so i just had to feel that people weren't my guards, my interrogators and feel that i was having free relationships and then ultimately finding love is the best healer. >> and that's part of the whole thing with bowe bergdahl is just conversations and communications become something you have to rebuild. josh fattal, thank you for your time and thoughts.

the republican clown car is revving its engines and senator ted cruz is behind the wheel. the new republic's brian boitler joins me to talk about republican leadership and, no, that is not an oxoxymoron, just ahead. ♪ do you know what this means? the greater the curvature, the bigger the difference. [sci-fi tractor beam sound] ...sucked me right in... it's beautiful. gotta admit one thing... ...can't beat the view. ♪ introducing the world's first curved ultra high definition television from samsung. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients.

ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. say "hi" rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth. clinically proven as effective as brushing. ok, here you go. have you ever seen a dog brush his own teeth? the twist and nub design cleans all the way down to the gum line, even reaching the back teeth. they taste like a treat, but they clean like a toothbrush. nothing says you care like a milk-bone brushing chew. [ barks ] nothing says you care like a milk-bone brushing chew. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians.

the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. ♪ ♪ 800,000 hours of supercomputing time, 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. whether it's building the world's most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems.

at boeing, one thing never changes. our passion to make it real. ♪ isn't senator ted cruz the most powerful person in the republican party? conservatives certainly seem to think so this weekend. i will discuss that with the new republic's brian beutler coming up next. first sue herera has the market wrap. >> hi, alex. it was a record-setting day for the dow, the s&p and the transports today. here's how we look going into tomorrow's trading session. the dow finished up 26.5 points, s&p up 1.5 but the nasdaq lost about 5.5 points. that's it from cnbc. we are first in business worldwide. we're back after a quick break. . at humana, we believe if healthcare changes,

if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪ let's close the gap between people and care. don't just visit new york. visit tripadvisor new york.

with millions of reviews, tripadvisor makes any destination better. marge: you know, there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips.

we've been talking about me running for president since 2010. so people keep talking about it and that's fine. i've said to folks, i'm certainly thinking about it. but i won't make any decision until 2015. >> that was former 2016 republican front runner chris christie in nashville on friday, humble bragging about his presidential ambitions. in case it was not painfully apparent that the gop is having yet another identity crisis, it became so on saturday. that is because saturday was the final day of the republican leadership conference, an annual ritual during which presidential hopefuls do their very best to outconservative each other in the hopes of winning the coveted straw poll. attend ees heard from people, including herman cain. >> many people have asked me this same question, and that is are you going to run again for president of the united states.

my answer is honestly this. i do not know what the future holds, but i know who holds the future, and that's god almighty. >> herman cain, please run for president. cain was followed by former presidential candidate, rick santorum. >> i know you're activists so in some respects i'm preaching for the choir, but sometimes the choir needs to go out and sing solos. what can you do? and i say this in my book. i don't really care, just do something. >> just do something. whatever that something may be. and then there was texas governor rick perry, fomenting american uprise. >> citizens who are taxed enough already -- yeah -- they have

begun to gather together in the harbor of discontent in the spirit of rebellion. i agree with thomas jefferson when he says that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing. >> but the presidential hopeful who best captured the republican id, the republicaner of the straw poll, was senator ted cruz who used his time for poke fun at the absurdity of someone else. >> vice president joe biden. you know the nice thing about that? you don't need a punch line. i promise you, try it. the next time you're at a party, just walk up to someone and say "vice president joe biden." >> joining me now is senior editor at the new republic, brian beutler. brian, i don't think you need a punch line for the phrase

president ted cruz, but the man won the straw poll, 30.3%. and i kind of think when you look at the republican party, the identity and the dna is all ted cruz right now. >> well, i think that what you're seeing is kind of -- you called it a clown car. i think that kind of clown car effect is what kind of helps ted cruz build an identity for himself but will ultimately make it impossible for him to secure the republican nomination if he runs for president. as battered as sort of the establishment heavies are like chris christie or jeb bush, you know, the donor class needs to settle on one of them and then allow these six or seven conservatives to vie for the right wing of the republican voter base. and they end up just basically stealing votes from each other. that's how mitt romney ended up becoming the nominee in 2012. you're sort of seeing the beginnings of that i think take shape right now. >> and i hear you on the donor class thing, but i feel like if you actually look at how far afield the republican party has gone on fiscal matters, on

environmental concerns, on social issues, ted cruz and his brethren have had a measurable effect on republican policy making. we are in many ways gridlocked because of the ted cruzzes in the republican party. so the effect is not just on the sort of presidential stage but it is having a substantive effect on the gop. >> oh, i think that's absolutely right. i think that you could carry my analysis one dozstep further an say one of the reasons mitt romney ended up being not electable is the primary process took him so far to the right in 2012 and whoever the donor class settles on or the two candidates the donor class settles on will fall prey to the same effect. just the issue of the day to day, the new epa regs. come 2015 when all these republicans are doing battle against each other, whether it's jeb bush or chris christie, they're going to be drawn into the sort of anti-scientist thing that ted cruz and the rest of

the republican candidates are going to be saying and that the gop base kind of expects out of them. do that on enough issues and then you reach the general election and you're not really electable. so what you're saying is true. it's had a major impact on policy and the effectiveness of institutions in washington, but i think that it's over time just making the republican party more and more unelectable in presidential years. >> brian, someone we haven't talked about a ton but who is likely to have a role in all of this if not a driver's seat role in the clown car, perhaps riding shotgun, is dr. ben carson. >> right. >> who was second in the straw poll with 29.4% of the vote. this is ahead of rand paul, who got half the vote percentage that ben carson got. what does a socially conservative neurosurgeon, what role does he play in shaping the tea party at this point? >> well, i think he has a tendency to say the kinds of outrageous things that appeal to conservative base voters. i think that some of these sort of republican activists also want to neutralize the extent to

which the republican party, when you look at its base as opposed to its figureheads, is an increasingly old white party. and they sort of value conservative celebrities that are female or ethnic minorities because they sort of break that impression that the public has. but i think that if you -- if ben carson is on stage in the debates in 2016, he's going to -- it's not going to be that he's going to disavow his claims about obamacare being worse than slavery, he's just going to pull other candidates in his direction. maybe not quite that far, but just make whoever ends up winning that process all the more unelectable. >> brian, we played some sound from rick perry talking about harbors of discontent. not quite explicitly calling for an american revolution, but sort of dancing around that. some part of that is hilarious because it's rick perry, someone a lot of people don't take

seriously. but i wonder if you think at any point there is a sense of responsibility that any of these guys feel. it's certainly good for fund-raising, it's good for firing up the base, but in the broader sort of national discourse, what this does to participate oar elections is fairly insidious. there's been so much analysis about where the republican party needs to go, do you ever think there's a moment of self-reflection after rick perry takes a turn on stage like that? >> i think that a lot of these candidates kind of have that instinct but it's beaten out of him. rick perry himself in 2012 was the guy who might have been able to kind of unify the conservative block on the right and write the michele bachmanns and stuff out of the race but he blew it in a way by appealing to the moral core of the republican party by saying anti-immigration stance was heartless and that ruined his candidacy. he learned the wrong lesson for that. i think a lot of these guys also

learned the wrong lesson from internal gop politics. >> i think learning the wrong lesson is evident no more clearly than the fact that herman cain is again considering running for president. herman cain, if you're listening, please run for president. brian, thank you as aultz always. >> thank you so much. just minutes from now, seattle is set to become the latest place to vote on a major minimum wage increase. and guess what, rich business guys are into it! the details coming up next. ♪

[ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ they're the days to take care of my mbusiness..t ge. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week. centurylink® your link to what's next.

take them on the way you always have. live healthy and take one a day men's 50+. a complete multivitamin with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. age? who cares. say "hi" rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth. clinically proven as effective as brushing. ok, here you go. have you ever seen a dog brush his own teeth? the twist and nub design cleans all the way down to the gum line, even reaching the back teeth. they taste like a treat, but they clean like a toothbrush. nothing says you care like a milk-bone brushing chew. [ barks ]

the city of seattle is poised to make history. just minutes from now at the top of the hour, the seattle city council will hold a final vote on whether to mandate the highest minimum wage in the nation. the law would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour which is more than double the national rate. last week a special committee unanimously approved the plan which would phase in the mandate

over seven years. the move will give a raise to 100,000 low wage workers in seattle and cut the poverty rate from 13% to 9%. one of the architects of the increase is multimillionaire venture capitalist nick hanour. responding to critics, he told the "l.a. times" we capitalists love our customers to be rich but our employees to be poor. you show me a low wage country and i'll show you a hellhole. $15 may seem high but the calculus is in part based on inflation and the value of what workers are actually producing. $15 is the middle ground between $10.50, which is what the minimum wage would have been if it had tracked with inflation, and nearly $20, which is what it would have been if it had tracked with productivity gains. if seattle passes its minimum wage increase as it is expected to just minutes from now, it will set a new national standard in the fight for a living wage. that's all for now. i'll see you back here tomorrow

at 4:00. "the ed show" is coming up next. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" live from detroit lakes, minnesota. i'm ready to go! let's get to work. >> this whole exchange is shocking to me, and i'm very disappointed. >> we're all grateful that he has returned. >> but just how bergdahl was freed has sparked a political firestorm. >> it is going to put american lives at risk. >> we didn't negotiate with terrorists. >> the number one way that al qaeda raises money is by ransom. >> we found an opportunity, we took that opportunity. >> we have now set a price. >> this was a prisoner exchange. >> we're all grateful that he has returned. >> and had we waited and lost him, i don't think anybody would have forgiven the united states government. >> after nearly five years in captivity, their