then, didn't republicans learn their lesson 40 years ago? we'll explain the virginia republicans' heist and how it will affect health care for virginia's most vulnerable. and, i scratch your back, you scratch mine. thad cochran beat back chris mcdaniel with a lot of help from black voters, but will cochran remember who helped him keep his seat once he's back in washington? we begin with that question that encompasses the will of the american people. a pending lawsuit against the president and how much that threat could hamstring any presidential action. is the president ready to act without congress on immigration reform? president obama's own frustration was on display during an interview this morning. >> the majority of american people want to see immigration reform done. we had a bipartisan bill through the senate, and you're going to squawk if i try to fix some parts of it administratively that are within my authority while you're not doing anything? >> but whether or not the

president is willing to act is a question that must also be balanced with what his options are. to help stem the flow of undocumented children flooding the border. today marks an entire year of inaction by house republicans on a bipartisan senate bill, and this week that had some democrats seeing red, literally. but as the white house signaled yesterday, and as politico reports today, vice president joe biden sent his own message to a group of immigration advocates. there is no red card on immigration. a week after the vice president travelled to central america, the first lady of honduras is here in the u.s. she's touring facilities where thousands of children from her country have ended up. but if the bottom line is that executive action is not a replacement for congressional reform and far-right conservatism continues to hamper any meaningful progress, what really can be done? raul reyes is a columnist for "usa today" and nbc news contributor. jimmy williams is the executive editor at bluenationreview.com

and msnbc contributor. jimmy, i'm just thinking back. hopes were so high after 2012. it seems inevitable that republicans had learned this lesson that they needed to move on immigration, they needed to get something done, get this off the table. what happened? >> the republicans happened to themselves. it's quite tragic. you know, look, the autopsy report gets released by the rnc. reince priebus recognizes there's a problem. 5 million votes. 10 million in 2008, 5 million votes for barack obama in 2012. then they need to do -- they need to close that gap. they do an autopsy report. it says reach out to different groups. okay. so the senate sends them a bill. where's the bill? still sitting at the well on the house floor. it's not being debated. they said we're going to do a piecemeal approach. a piecemeal approach to the fact you have thousands of children sitting on the border right now they're about to put ankle bracelets on like they're cattle. really? and they're blaming the president for this, by the way.

this is what fascinates me so much. they could easily butt this bill on the floor. my old boss dick durbin said it precisely. and i'm not defending him because he's my old boss. he's right. they won't put it on the floor because they're scared it'll pass. the base will screw them in the fall, the tea party base. >> and raul, i think we got a new piece of information about why exactly immigration reform has faced such a hurdle in the gop-controlled house in particular. pew came out with new research. most americans really believe immigrants are good for the country. in particular, they broke down conservatives into two groups. your tea party types and business types, your wall street types. 64% of business conservatives say immigrants strengthen our country there are hard work whereas 73% of the tea party types say they burden our country. that tea party republican has been winning. they've been so successful at blocking progress for the rest of americans that want to see a

solution here. >> it's a situation akin to the tail wagging of the dog because they are definitely a minority, but they're very vocal minority. so the larger gop is being held hostage to them. what i think is important to remember right now, we're in this unique situation because this border crisis is happening simultaneously. pretty much, you know, immigration reform is dead legislatively. however, it's still going to go on because the next phase is that it will move to the white house where president obama is going to take executive action, which will enflame the tea party republicans even more. right now we're seeing all around the country the states are taking action on their own. 11 states now give driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. new york is experimenting with a new bill providing for something called state citizenship to deal with the problem. also, all these young activists and the coalition of people who have been pushing for reform, they recognize that it's not happening in congress. what they're going to do now is turn their efforts to voter registration, mobilization, and

try to elect a congress that can make it happen. >> they're not giving up. >> the movement continues. >> well, and jimmy, to that point, the president was speaking at an economic event earlier today. and you could hear the frustration over the republicans. there's this weird thing happening where because there's nothing happening in congress, the president is pressured to take executive action. then republicans are using that executive action as an excuse not to do anything. let's listen to what the president had to say earlier today. >> now republicans are mad at me for taking these actions. they're not doing anything. and then they're mad that i'm doing something. i'm not sure which of the things i've done they find most offensive. but they've decided they're going to sue me for doing my job. >> suing him is obviously absurd. do you agree with raul that we're going to see more executive action from the president since congress is not going to do anything? >> it's the only thing that can be done at this point. you have a crisis in this

country. you have a short-term crisis, which these children sitting on the border. you have a long-term crisis, which is you have how many millions of americans who are sitting here today? you talked about the driver's license issue. i had a conference call this morning with my editorial board. i said, i want to talk about this latino issue in large part because we were coming on the show to talk about it today. the most important reason why is you have a black-market economy. you have a black-market economy that needs to be brought up to the regular economy. that point, that piece that you putt up by pew, where 63% of business conservatives want this done, they want it done for a reason. they want people to open checking accounts. they want people to be able to go and walk into a store and -- to an at&t store, by the way w and get a cell phone and sign a two-year contract, which they can't do without a driver's license and a credit line. if you don't have decent credit or any credit at all, you can't do this, right. so then you're talking about tens of millions of people that aren't allowed to be a part of the economy. >> that's right. >> they're sitting here. >> and there's a greater danger for the gop. they might be, you know, pleased with themselves or a certain

wing might be pleased immigration reform is not happening, but it is something the country wants. clearly in every poll that we're seeing, a majority of latino voters want it. a poll was out this month from the research from latino decisions. that said 74% of latino voters would view the republican party less favorably if they did not do something on it. if they did not do something on reform. so they're running a real risk here. if they pursue the strategy of suing the president, are they actually going to come out and say they're suing the president over his decision not to deport the dreamers? that would be a public relations nightmare for their image. >> and raul, on the immediate question of the children coming across the border, unaccompanied minors, it's a human tragedy. it's a disaster. also, a significant number of them likely qualify for asylum in this country because they're escaping violence in their own countries. what is the solution there? what do we do? >> it's so difficult because it's a logistical problem of how to take care of the kids. it's a humanitarian refugee

problem, how to deal with them compassionately. and it's become a political problem. for the most part, unfortunately, the president is having to go it alone because the republicans are just finger pointing and grandstanding around the issue. with respect to the nation of honduras, it's great the first lady is coming up here, but that's largely a public relations move. when vice president biden went to central america to meet with leaders of those countries, the president of honduras didn't even go. he opted to go to the world cup instead. >> wow. that kind of says it all. thank you so much, raul reyes and jimmy williams, for your helping us understand a very complex issue. all right. coming up, the incredible way virginiaen republicans tried to undermine the governor's plans for medicaid expansion. then, joy told you about this yesterday. now we have more on the water war that is happening in detroit right now, which the united nations is now calling a violation of human rights. starts with back pain... ...and a choice.

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tomorrow is the two-year anniversary of the supreme court decision that ruled definitively that the president's health care law was indeed constitutional. while it's reported that millions now have health care, one of the unfortunate consequences of that ruling was to reverse a key provision of the law. that decision has left millions of the working poor without insurance. the court, led by conservative chief justice john roberts, ruled that medicaid expansion could not be manndatory. rather, states would be able to choose whether or not they wanted to opt in. since then, six states plus d.c. have opted in, with three more states still debating the issue. however, for the 21 states that have not expanded medicaid, it's been a battle just as bitter as the one over the law itself. a case in point, my home state, the commonwealth of virginia.

last year the state's newly elected democratic governor terry mcauliffe ran on a pledge to make virginia the 27th state to expand medicaid. standing in his way, however, has been withering opposition from key state republicans. first, we've had allegations of bribery that came after a democratic legislator stepped down suddenly, handing control of the state senate to republicans. now "the richmond times dispatch" reports the house speaker recruited the state capitol police to make their way past security and into the governor's secure office on a sunday. that would be father's day. while governor terry mcauliffe was away. the reason, says the governor's people, people an early drop-off of a budget that prevents medicaid expansion would give mcauliffe less time to approve it or veto it. we have jeff schapiro, columnist

at "the richmond times dispatch." he's been doing essential reporting on this issue. i'm hoping you could just start by bringing us up to speed and helping us understand why republicans felt it would be important to get this budget in on father's day. >> the less time the governor had to review the budget, in particular the freshly implemented obstacles to medicaid expansion, specifically obstacles that would prevent the governor from acting unilaterally by executive action, the less time he had to reconsider them, the less time he had to veto them. the greater the pressure on the governor to turn around the bill. he lost essentially two days because of this father's day drive-by. >> and yet, jeff, he was still able to use a line item veto on the budget to get rid of the provisions that would prevent him from going forward with medicaid expansion on his own.

and now we're in this sort of legal limbo because the speaker of the house, a republican speaker of the house, has said, no, i don't believe you have the power to make those vetoes. is this going to be a challenge that's headed to the court now? >> bill howe, the speaker, vetoed the governor's veto. this is a murky area of virginia law. virginia's governor has had an item veto pretty much as long as we've had a strong governorship. this is over 150 years. in fact, the president of the confederacy had an item veto. that was inspired, in part, by a tool that was available to virginia's governor. but the constitution says and the courts have ruled in somewhat related disputes that that item veto can't be used for editorial or editing purposes. in other words, the governor can't strike language that's not

attached to dollars and cents. that's what governor mcauliffe did. >> so at this point, it's sort of an open question whether the governor's line item will stand. but you're writing about another option that governor mcauliffe has in this situation, a possible public/private partnership to go forward with medicaid expansion. you say the governor could turn directly to the marketplace, invoking a republican-authored law in return for big profits operates a public program. that's how we got commuter express lanes added to the capital beltway and also toll finance tunnel linking port smith and norfolk. is that a real possibility? because one of the interesting things here is essentially the only people opposed to medicaid expansion are the republicans for ideological reason. all the interest group, the doctors, the insurers, the constituency groups. they all want medicaid expansion to go forward. >> well, keeping in mind that over the fours years of a mcauliffe governorship, nearly

$7 billion in health care dollars would flow from washington through medicaid. what the governor faces now are certain legal and procedural obstacles. how the money is made available to the state by washington is important. that's why, i guess, it's helpful a democratic governor has a friend presumably in barack obama. if the administration, the federal administration were to say, okay, well, extend these dollars to virginia as a grant to the governor's office, it's conceivable legally. i suspect there will be a fight over this. that those dollars would be beyond the reach -- initially beyond the reach of this hostile republican legislature. so that's one of the options that the governor is considering. >> and jeff, one of the cruel ironies here is you're talking about somewhere around 400,000 virginians who could receive

health care coverage, if you went forward with medicaid expansion, and the irony is that those virginians are disproportionately in red districts, in republican districts. what has the public response been in virginia to republicans really trying to stand in the way of moving forward with medicaid? >> well, one of the problems is that in rural virginia, the hostility toward barack obama perhaps overshadows the argument that these dollars and these services might make a difference in their lives. but i think there's maybe a larger obstacle, and that is consider the competition that the legislature and the governor has for the public's attention. right now we've got the world cup. we've got john boehner and barack obama in a shoving match. we have the nba draft.

the health care needs of an indeterminate number of virginians is pretty low on the pecking order. >> well, that is unfortunate to hear, but thank you so much, jeff schapiro, for helping us understand this story. >> thank you. and now a reid alert from washington, where democratic congressman john dingell of michigan said farewell at a luncheon at the national press club. >> i am proud that i have been able to be a part of the body and truly a child of the institution. i intend to keep this nation and all of my colleagues in my thoughts and prayers. and i have to say more often in my prayers than in my thoughts. >> the 87-year-old is the longest-serving member of the house of representatives. he has held his seat in congress since the eisenhower administration. earlier this year, the feisty

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now to alicia montoa. she ran a track and field shaip on thursday while eight months pregnant. she came in last but received a standing ovation because her performance was just that inspiring. and you have joined in on that cheering. proof that mothers are fierce and strong, one of you tweeted. some are you even giving her baby props for her superhuman finish, with tweets like this. her unborn child runs faster than me, what the what? her doctor agrees with her running during pregnancy. if it makes the mom feel good, it's great for the baby. now to more feel-good moments in sport, this time from the nba draft. you're celebrating number-one nba draft andrew wiggins and his suit. he embraced nba commissioner adam silver after being picked

by the cleveland cavaliers in a jacket that was so sweet, you all tweeted about it. the most touching moment came when silver announced isiah austin as a draft pick to the complete surprise of the 20-year-old and his family. he was ceremonial drafted after being just diagnosed with a genetic disorder that put an end to his highly anticipated nba career. this really got your collective feelings flowing. wow classy move by the nba and adam silver to allow austin to still live his dream. wnba player canadas parker tweeted, i'm in tears it over here. join the conversation about this and more with fellow reiders on twitter, facebook, instagram and msnbc.com. keep telling us what is important to you. and now this news. pride week kicks off in new york city. here's more on the significance of this year's celebrations.

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we're looking into the issue of whether or not people who participated in the june the 3rd democratic primary crossed over into the republican primary this tuesday night. and we've already found more than 1,000 examples of that in one county alone. >> that is mrs. republican chris mcdaniel, also known as perhaps the worst loser in recent political memory. three days since his gop u.s. senate primary loss, one confirmed by almost every but chris mcdaniel, the mississippi state senator is still on the warpath over how thad cochran won re-election, specifically

cochran's last-minute appeal to cross over democrats, many black mississippi residents, who were legally allowed to vote in tuesday's run-off. as noted, although nearly every county across the state saw greater turnout in the june 24 run-off, generally speaking the higher the black population of a county, the greater the boost. imagine that. a republican reaching out beyond his base to secure an election and then winning because of it. i feel like i read something about that after the 2012 election. a report or an autopsy or something. hmm, something about how that's what the party should be doing to win. well, i guess their autopsy now needs an autopsy. to help us with that, we have angie maxwell, she teaches southern studies in political science at the university of arkansas. and we also have jason johnson. he's a professor of political

science and the politics editor for "source" magazine. angie, i want to start with you. you've been saying that actually black voters being pragmatic and taking their destiny into their own hands in primaries is not a few phenomenon in the south. >> thanks for having me, krystal. it's not a few phenomenon. african-american voters in the south have had to be very astute for generations. they have been put in a position where they're often dealing with one party politics within the state, and they're voting between the lesser of two potential candidates, neither of which may be their ideal position. and one of the things we haven't looked at in this race, in my opinion, is what is the african-american view of the tea party in general? because chris mcdaniel did a strong job of positioning himself that way. we know from data we run here at the university of arkansas that the african-american kind of average view of the tea party on a 0 to 100 scale with 100 being

the most favorable ran in 2010 at about 26 points on average and dropped in 2012 to 19. >> wow. >> so if there's anything more unfavorable than perhaps republicans, you know, is the tea party. >> jason, my sense is that's not only about issue positions, although it is about issue positions. i think it also has to do with some of the rhetoric that comes at times out of the tea party and that they certainly heard from chris mcdaniel. let's take a listen to a little of some of the, i would say, coded language that chris mcdaniel used. >> before this race ends, we have to be absolutely certain that the republican primary was won by republican voters. there is something a bit unusual about a republican primary that's decided by liberal democrats. today the conservative movement

took a backseat to liberal democrats in the state of mississippi. >> this is a man who also has spoken at events with neo-confederates. are some of those really bad throwbacks to the past, that sort of racially coded language, is that part of what motivated african-americans here? >> oh, definitely. i mean, you know, we can add a new phrase to racial coding. thousands of irregularities. i think thousands of irregularities means black people. this is a guy who said that, you know, he made comments about trayvon martin. he's made comments about black people in general. he's made comments about president obama. he's a sore loser because he doesn't understand that at your core, as a politician, you're not only seeking everyone's votes, but you have to represent everyone too. so all of his language and all of his commentary not only turned off black voters but even turned off white moderate voters in mississippi who saw his kind of behavior as the kind of thing that would just embarrass the state if that guy ends up in the senate. >> and angie, one of the things

that i actually found really promising here is when i saw the cochran strategy of going into african-american neighborhoods and touting things like his support for the ag bill and support for food stamps. i was frankly worried that there would be a white backlash, pushing white voters in the direction of mcdaniel. it doesn't seem like that happened. >> it doesn't seem like that happened. with the county level data we have right now, we don't think that happened. but the other thing we have to remember, too, is that, you know, cochran reached out to these voters. now, will that translate into any policy changes? we don't know. but about 50% of african-american democrats report no contact from the democratic party. so there is an opening there, possibly because it feels like the state is already red. it's going to take a long strategy, multielection strategy for democrats to gain back support potentially. so you're leaving kind of this, you know, group that is not contacted by anybody.

and when we know that about one out of ten doors that you knock on you turn a vote your way is kind of the common wisdom. and if you're doing it in the absence of any other information and you're touting things like the federal dollars that you have been able to bring to mississippi, that's a message that's going to resonate. >> it's a message that i hope resonates with both parties, that you can't take anyone's vote for granted. and jason, looking bigger picture, this is the first time we've really seen a republican when threatened with a tea party challenger, instead of running as far to the right as he possibly can, actually moving to the center to pick up a broader expanded electorate. i was taking a look at where else this would be feasible. there are a lot of states in the south that have the same sort of open primary system, where this would be a possibility. you've got 35 states around the country where you either have open primaries or the kind of hybrid system that they have in mississippi. do you think you're going to see more republicans employing this strategy? >> not at all. even though they should.

look, this is what reince priebus has been talking about for two years. i sat in meetings with him as he talked about this sort of thing to african-american journalists and analysts, saying this is what the party is going to do. but you see from the backlash it's not going to happen. people already calling thad cochran a betrayer and calling the black voters who voted for him uncle toms from lush limbaugh. i don't think you're going to see a lot of republicans who are going to be interested in employing this tactic, this crazy tactic called actually getting different kinds of people to vote for you. so it should happen, but i don't think it's going to. >> angie, what do you make of that? do you think this is a strategy that could be used successfully other places in the south? >> it's a strategy that could be used successfully if it translates into real action by people like thad cochran that benefit these communities that have high -- they're suffering the worst from unemployment rates. african-american women with the lowest, you know, even lower than white women of how much they make on the dollar compared to men. if it translates to policy like

george wallace, as terrible as george wallace was on race, his last election for governor, he's winning with almost 80% of the african-american vote because he turned around and delivered real, pragmatic, economic advantages for that community. if it doesn't translate, it will not work a second time. >> that's right. and jason, one of the things that the local naacp president in mississippi is already saying is, hey, maybe you could help us to amend the voting rights act. we saw the supreme court striking down an important provision in the voting rights act. do you think that thad cochran is going to feel pressure from the constituency that is responsible for him keeping his seat in washington? >> i really hope so. i hope that this makes him more sensitive. i hope he doesn't act like the guy who's like, i'm going to forget about my prom date. i was only with her because she drove me here. i think if he actually decided he was going to pay attention to all the voters who put him in the position he's in now, it would benefit. this is a guy who has an 11%

rating from the naacp as far as civil rights legislation. he got a zero rating from the aclu at one point in the past. so he's got a lot of work to do. if he were to just wake up one day and say, i will just stand against some of the anti-african-american policies the party has been putting forward, that would be huge progress from some of the things he's done in the past. >> that would be huge progress. as angie was pointing out, voters will be watching and will hold him accountable. thank you so much, jason johnson and angie maxwell. and a reid alert on the woman from the sudan who was once on death row for being christian. she has been freed from police custody for a second time. she was first freed monday but arrested again on tuesday at the airport while she was trying to fly to the u.s. this time she faced forgery charges relating to the emergency documents she tried to use to leave the sudan. she has taken refuge at the u.s. embassy and is trying to get back to the states with her american husband and her two

children. one of whom she gave birth to while on death row. up next, cracking down on folks who don't pay their water bills in detroit by shutting off the water. but why isn't the city going after big companies who are behind on their bills? this is k. setting up the perfect wedding day begins with arthritis pain and two pills. afternoon arrives and feeling good, but her knee pain returns... that's two more pills. the evening's event brings laughter, joy, and more pain... when jamie says... what's that like six pills today? yeah... i can take 2 aleve for all day relief. really, and... and that's it. this is kathleen... for my arthritis pain, i now choose aleve. get all day arthritis pain relief with an easy-open cap. ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪

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the legacy of usaa auto insurance can be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. when we think of the things in life that we simply cannot live without, what comes to mind? well, smile phones, tv, and carbs seem to keep us alive. access to running water literally keeps us alive. and for thousands of detroit's poorest residents, access to that basic necessity is now at risk. as the city looks to emerge from the largest municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history, a battle over water is boiling over. as the detroit news reports, back in march the city's water and sewage department began to target tens of thousands of detroiters with balances more than $150 overdue or more than

two months behind on their payments. according to the department, half of the nearly 324,000 water and sewerage accounts are overdue. this week the city's struggling residents begin to fight back. they've been marching outside the water department's headquarters. they're claiming they are being unfairly targeted. >> why are we attacking poor people? why do we hate poor people in detroit? it has been demonstrated that the corporate customers are not receiving the same level of scrutiny and accountability. >> in its report on detroit's water war this week "the guardian" agreed calling it a, quote, ruthless case of the shock doctrine. they also called attention to reports that detroit's high-end golf club, the red wing's hockey areen that, the ford football stadium, and more than half of the city's commercial and industrial users are also owing a sum totaling $30 million. department officials say that's, quote, an apples to oranges comparison, and the number of

actual shut-offs is much lower than reported. of 46,000 notices sent out in may, only about 4500 customers have actually been shut off. still, according to the united nations, when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections. so is this a battle over unpaid bills or is the city using water as a weapon against struggling residents? steve pardaeu is covering this story for the detroit noi news. he joins us now. are stoppaging going forward despite backlash from residents? >> yeah, the stoppages continue to go forward. in fact, the department is now ready through outside contractors to have the ability to shut off about 3,000 customers a week now that haven't paid their bills. >> and steve, charles pierce has been writing in "esquire." he wrote a really compelling piece called "the united states

of cruelty." he writes about this crisis in there. he says, there's something different abroad in the politics now, perhaps because we're in the middle of an era of scarcity and have invested ourselves in a culture of austerity and doubt. the system seems too full of opportunities to grind and to bully. have you found in your reporting that people feel that this is a cruel action? do they feel like they're being bullied? >> well, i think anybody who gets their water cut off is going to be very upset with that. they have been. but with the bankruptcy that detroit is going under, the water department is -- i know they're looking for more efficiencies with this and probably for far too long they've allowed people and businesses who haven't paid their bills to get away with it. i mean, they've got half of the accounts, almost half of the accounts overdue. that's a big percentage. of the 180,000 active detroit res den accounts, over 80,000 or around 80,000 are overdue. so the department is looking to

show probably kevin orr that it can be efficient and can start getting some of the collections, some of the money it's owed back. >> to your point, we have some sound from darrell lath mother, detroit's water deputy director responding to the criticism. let's take a listen. >> these accounts are averaging $560. majority of our customers are in delinquency status. they've just built a cloture of you're not making me pay, i'm not going to pay. >> so did the water department feel like they just didn't have any choice but to shut off water to these folks? is there truth in the allegation that they're able to pay, they just don't want to? >> well, i think that's what the water department has to do a little better job of, of separating somehow the people choosing not to pay their bill or account afford to pay it and those who are completely indigent. i think they've got about 17,000 people on some kind of payment plan now. they're encouraging -- which is a good thing -- people who are

having troubles paying their bills to contact them to get on this payment plan. they also said they're going to launch a campaign for the indigent next month, which would also be a good thing. but the details are still -- the details and scopes are still sketchy on that. i think they are trying to work with residents, but on the other hand, they're saying, you owe us this money, pay us. >> you know, steve, on the human side of this, i mean, you can only imagine how many things you're using water for during the day. basic things. making formula for the baby, taking a shower, cooking food, just having safe, clean drinking water. are there relief groups on the ground that are helping folks who are having their water shut off and can't afford to do anything about it? >> well, i think that's part of the problem that we're having here in detroit. there's no real national programs to help people like this, like the program we have for people getting their power shut off. i think there needs to be more national efforts towards that because, yeah, you can't last long without water.

that's a real big problem here in the city. >> we did ask detroit water to respond to these reports that we've heard about the red wings arena, the ford stadium, and other corporate big delinquencies that figure into the tens of millions. this was their response. they said, these bills are in dispute due to disagreements over storn water run-off charges, not traditional water use. we're pursuing these owed moneys as well. last month we received a check for $2.9 million from chrysler, for example. so i'm going to ask the obvious question here. why isn't the department trying harder to go after the big fish rather than the smaller fish in the pond who can't pay their bills? >> well, i think the big fish on this, they've got more means to fight. you're not going to -- you can easily go to somebody's house and turn the water off, but you're certainly note going to do that at any of the massive holdings that they have there because the lawyers will be involved with this. yeah, of the accounts past due, about -- it looks like just from

the dwsd zone records, at least 30 million are from city commercial and city industrial. so there's a lot of money in dispute. there's a lot of money businesses own the department also. >> is there a sentiment there that there's a racial aspect to this that maybe this wouldn't be happening in the same way if the majority of residents who would be impacted by shut-offs were white? >> yeah, well, with the city being primarily black, it's going to be the african-americans getting their water cut off on this. there's a divide, and there always has been, between the suburbs and the city when it comes to water. detroit residents are charged as retail customers. suburban detroiters are charged as wholesale customers. so any time -- but the bills don't effect each other on this. it's the ones who, if they're not paying their bills in detroit, that'll raise the rates for all the other detroiters on there. it does not impact the suburban customers. but the feeling in the suburbs tends to be, hey, why doesn't everybody just pay their own

bills? i have to pay mine. >> steve pardo, thank you so much. >> thank you. and next, reading between the lines on what republicans really think about poor people. , artfully prepared. fancy feast elegant medleys. inspired dishes like primavera, florentine and tuscany. fancy feast. a medley of love, served daily. nicewhat?nch? aflac! so this is who you brought to help us out? oh yeah, he's the best. hmm... he doesn't look like he's seen a tool in his life. oh, he doesn't know anything about tools. aflac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac! but when i broke my arm, he lent a hand. he paid my claim in just four days. four days? wow! it's no accident - aflac pays fast. find out how fast at aflac.com and remember,accidents don't hurt as much when you have aflac. better. [ jackhammer pounding, horns honking ] [ siren wailing ]

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new pew research is out with a deep look at our divided political system, how we view government, patriotism, social issues, and more. but there was one stat that really stood out to me. pew asked whether poor people have hard lives because government benefits don't go far enough or whether they have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything. the answers were pretty shocking. 86% of tea party type conservatives and 77% of wall street type conservatives think that the poor have it easy. wow. well, that explains a lot. it explains mitt romney condescending to the 47%. it explains paul ryan's talking about the social safety net as a hammock, lulling the able-bodied

to sleep. it explains how republicans can embrace and indeed champions deep cuts to s.n.a.p. and wic. if the poor have it easy, why would they need a raise, more food for their families, or formula for their babies? for anyone who's confused, let me clear up for a moment what it actually looks like to be poor. being poor looks like bad neighborhoods, bad schools, and an increased risk of being victims of violence and theft. being poor means being one mishap, one broken down car, one health care issue away from disaster. it means going hungry so your kids can eat. it means donated presents at christmas and no turkey at thanksgiving. it means frozen burritos and fast food and always saying no to the things your kids want. and over the years, poor health care, poor diet, and too much stress, well, they add up. longevity is a luxury that the poor just can't afford. while life expectancy has increased for most groups, poor women are actually living

shorter lives, dying earlier now than they did a generation ago. but you know what? you don't have to take my word for it. here's how one member of the working poor describes her life on easy street. i get up at 6:00 a.m., go to school, then work. then i get the kids, then i pick up my husband. then i have half an hour to change and go to job two. i get home from that at around 12:30 a.m. then i have the rest of my classes and work to tend to. i'm in bed by 3:00. i never get a day off from work unless i'm fairly sick. doesn't leave much room to think about what you're doing, only to attend to the next thing and the next. constant work, constant stress, no respite, no flexibility. that's what it looks like to be poor, and there's nothing easy about it. i'm krystal ball. that wraps things up for "the reid report." joy will be back on monday at 2:00 p.m. eastern. be sure to visit us online at thereidreport.msnbc.com. "the cycle," a show i do know a little about, is up next. cyclists, tell me what's going

on. >> joy -- krystal, how are you? powerful final essay there. i was still thinking about that. great stuff from you. but you're going to come over and join us, right, and be one of the gang as usual? >> yeah, i think so. >> start running. >> you're not going to be frozen like this picture that we have of you. >> i'm going to go right now. >> as you well know, krystal, we're going to talk about this john boehner lawsuit -- >> she really left us. >> well, we'll do it anyway. let's talk to america maybe. we're going to talk about the john boehner suit against the president. we'll see how well that's going to go. we're going to talk about iraq. we're going to talk about gay rights. should be a bit of an emotional conversation because pride weekend is this weekend in new york. we're going to talk about amazon.com and abby's got an interesting essay about mormonism. yeah -- >> let's tune in. >> watch us. f naming names. the fact is, it comes standard with an engine that's been called the benchmark of its class.

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on "the cycle." this was me last week running from joy's set to "the cycle" set. i arrived for the second segment this week with a little help from sally field. i flew over and made it for the start of the show. how we did it remains a tv secret. as the flying nun would say, i know my fellow cyclists like me. they really like me, i hope. for better or worse, i am krystal ball. and school is out on capitol hill. both the house and the senate are on an early getaway ahead of the fourth of july holiday. neither will be back in session until july 7th. but even when they return, don't expect a whole lot to be accomplished. let's be honest, not much has been done so far. only 121 bills have passed into law. that is far below the av