tv Politics Nation MSNBC July 1, 2015 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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policy. >> rick herrero, anna revis logan, great to have you with us tonight. i appreciate it. i'm all for the embassy in havana, i think it's the right thing do did and it's for the next generation. i'm off to madison, wisconsin, tonight to cover the bernie sanders rally. we'll have a full report tomorrow night on "the ed show." "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. ♪ tonight on "politicsnation," president obama's momentum it's been a historic couple of weeks, and today, another historic step for his legacy. and macy's is the latest company to drop donald trump for his controversial mexican immigrant comment. but the republican party has a problem. he's surging in the polls. and the investigation into that fire at black churches and at the black church in south
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carolina. attorney general loretta lynch spoke out moments ago. ♪ thanks to you for tuning in. we start with president obama's momentum. laser focused on his agenda. and his poll numbers rising. has anyone else noticed he just seems really loose lately? here he was at a town hall meeting today. >> davey crockett. [ applause ] y'all remember that tv show? actually, a lot of people are too young here. ♪ davey, davey crockett ♪ [ laughter and applause ] i love that. >> yeah he's having fun, but he's also making history. lit relevantly making history. today, another historic step. the president announcing
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embassies in the u.s. and cuba will re-open later this month. it reverses 54 years of policy dating back to the cold war. >> this is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the cuban government and people. the progress that we mark today is yet another demonstration that we don't have to be imprisoned by the past. when something isn't working, we can and will change. this is what change looks like. >> the policy started under eisenhower and presidents ever since have been wrestling with it struggling with an outdated approach that no longer makes sense. republicans were quick to attack it today. but the president did it anyway. it's a pillar of his agenda -- foreign policy. and after that he moved to another pillar his signature law -- obamacare. he flew to a red state,
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tennessee. it's a state that has resisted -- resisted with everything it has -- medicaid expansion. today the president urged tennessee to do what's right. >> with the supreme court case now behind us what we can do is -- [ applause ] -- i'm hoping that what we can do is now focus on how we can make it even better. >> and here in tennessee, that's probably couple hundred thousand people who could benefit. it is unfortunate that getting this thing done got so political. washington is kind of a crazy place. um, but that doesn't mean every place has got to be crazy. so -- [ applause ] -- i'd like to see, i'd like to see some good sense spring forth
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from the great state of tennessee. >> foreign policy, hillary clinton -- health care and tomorrow, president obama will give a big speech on economic fairness including his plan to raise overtime wages for five million workers. as the president said today, this is what change looks like. joining me now is congresswoman karen bass democrat from california, and clarence page of the "chicago tribune." his latest article is titled "the obama don't care initiative." [ laughter ] >> thank you for being here. congresswoman, the president seems relaxed and loose. what's your take on this? >> i absolutely think that it's wonderful. as his term has gone on and he's had tremendous victories, i think we'll see more and more of this. you know when i think about him
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addressing the overtime pay, you can't get congress to pass a jobs plan. so if you're going to address income inequality he's using every ounce of his power in order to do that. so i think it's great. >> clarence you've got to tell me about your article, the obama don't care initiative. >> yeah, i stole that idea from larry wilmore's nightly show last week. they lampooned obama's new attitude saying it was a bigger issue than obamacare. this is obama don't care. in other words, he doesn't care what you do to attack him, or say he's a lame duck, he's moving ahead and doing his thing and you see the results over the past week, the kind of successes that are really helping to solidify his legacy. >> you know, congress wpwomancongresswoman, i mentioned the president was in
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tennessee, one of the 21 states preventing medicaid expansion, preventing 6.6 million people from getting coverage. the president called to people to open their hearts on health care and issues of income inequality. >> but part of what i've also tried to say to the republican party, open your hearts and think about the people here in tennessee who are working hard, are struggling and just need a little bit of help. if we give them that help it's going to pay off over the long-term. this will be a stronger state, employment will be higher, folks will be paying taxes. everybody's going to prosper. we're all in this together. >> i'm an optimist congresswoman, but do you feel republicans will heed his call and open their hearts? >> well i certainly hope that they will. i have voted personally over 50 times against the repeal of
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obamacare. and i'm hoping that we don't have to do that again. but i just have to say something about opening your hearts. you know i spent many years working in health care and when people don't have insurance, they die. because they don't get diagnosed early enough to treat cancers. and it winds up costing the system even more. one day someone is going to do a study about all of those states that refuse to expand medicaid and they're going to actually document the way this has impacted individuals and families. people have gotten sick and i'm sure people have lost their lives because of this resistance to expand health care. >> while i have you, congresswoman, you and i both have talked a lot about cuba. >> yes. >> we've gone there separately. i went many years ago. i believe you went last year. and the president's been talking about the cuban embargo for years, and the policies there for years. here's what he said in 2004 about the embargo.
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>> i think it's time for us to end the embargo in cuba. cuban embargo has failed to provide a source of rising standards of living and has squeezed the innocents in cuba and utterly failed in the effort to overthrow castro who has now been there since i was born. >> that was over a decade ago. and here today, he's taking real steps in that direction. what's your take? >> well, i have to tell you that i was thrilled when he first came out with the policy in december. and as he said this is a policy that's been in place from before he was born, and how ridiculous is it that there's an island 90 miles away 11 million people and we don't have relationships with that island. to me it's a human rights issue from the united states perspective. i want to be free to travel to any country in the world. and this is the only country on
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the planet that we have a policy like this with. so i think it's about time. i lackook forward to the exchange between our peoples and i think both countries will benefit. >> but clarence the republicans came out attacking right away on the cuba announcement today. chris christie called it dead wrong. rick perry says it ignores reality. scott walker called it an appeasement of dictators. but the president seemed not to care. i guess that's part of his -- >> obama don't care. >> -- obama don't care initiative. what do you make of this ugly reaction by the right? >> i want to say, thank you congresswoman, that obama wasn't even born when embargo went into effect. i was about 12 years old myself. >> i was about 6. >> i remember it well. it's just stunning. in all seriousness, the president understands now, at this point in his presidency that there's a lot he can do by
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executive order. >> yes. >> that can get things done, when the congress, which he has given ample opportunity to make some moves. and it's not just a partisan thing. there are lots of republicans who want to open up more trade with cuba. >> right. >> i say more trade because we already have millions of dollars a year that we sell to cuba in corn and other products across the upper midwest and other parts of the country. this is an archaic policy that obama is now ending and i don't think republicans are going to roll it back. we are in the republican primaries right now. so they all feel obligated to pander to that wing of the party. but in all practical matters, it's a great relief on the part of more americans than a few, to start loosening things up and open up relations with cuba and do something about the political problems that we still have to deal with in that country, as well as the -- we're going to
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have some real influence on lifting the level of fascism, censorship oppression that still goes on there. >> but congresswoman, we have embassies with other communist nations and nations that we don't agree with policy. and it's also very critical -- they're a very critical part of the caribbean, where the president went last year and has tried to have a trade that would help in that area of the world. and it's really part of what he said when he was running the first time. he wanted to be a transformative president from health care to cuba what he's doing in many areas is a transformative presidency. >> absolutely. i think he is. this policy, you have to look at it from an international perspective as well. this has been embarrassing to all of latin america. something they've complained about for a long time.
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when i was in cuba in december, it was a congressional delegation, and we were there because the cubans have discovered a medication that can help reduce the number of amputations that people have related to diabetes. now, that's something that we can benefit from in the united states. but because of our current policy, that can't be marketed here. so it's not just a one-way issue of us helping cuba by opening up relations. we have something to gain from our relationship with the island. >> and clarence i think as we are more and more in a global village, it's hard to even rationalize to young people why we would have this policy about a government 90 miles from our shores. >> it's very true. i've been to cuba as well. and it has -- well the cuban people are wonderful. they love americans. there's just no reason for this policy now. what's interesting politically now is how younger cubans have been voting a majority for obama, and other democrats.
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it's not that monolithic voting block that it used to be. >> and they do love americans. i found that in my trip. >> that's right. >> congresswoman karen bass and clarence page thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, the investigation into that fire at a black church in south carolina. attorney general loretta lynch just talked about it moments ago. also tonight, donald trump was dropped by macy's after those controversial immigration comments. so where are all the gop leaders on this? plus a big day in the fight for a living wage. hikes took effect in major cities. but are we closer to a federal wage hike? and the 40-year ban at the white house was just lifted. we'll tell you -- or should i say, show you what is about to
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>> hillary clinton broke a record. her campaign announcing today it's on track to raise over $45 million in her first quarter of campaigning. that breaks president obama's record set in 2011. the clinton campaign also says 91% of donations came at $100 or less. coming up macy's cuts ties with donald trump, saying the company, quote, stands for diversity, and has no tolerance for discrimination. but the gop can't cut him. he's surging in the polls. that's ahead.
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>> tonight the feds are trying to figure out why this predominantly black church in south carolina caught fire and burned. the a.p. cites a law enforcement official as saying the fire at the mt. zion church in greeleyville was likely not arson. and south carolina governor nikki haley just talked about it with nbc news craig melvin. >> we actually saw it. there were four lightning strikes and one of them hit the steeple of the church. so it burned.
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>> so at this point there's no reason to believe there's anything sinister? >> absolutely none no. >> black churches are on edge after last month's deadly shooting in charleston. we've seen at least six fires at black churches in recent days. arson has been ruled out in some, but not in others. attorney general loretta lynch just talked about it. >> one of the things that has troubled all of us has been this recent prevalence of directing violence at our houses of worship, whether they are burned or whether it's through bullets, or whether it's simply through hate walking in the door, they are a target. >> and today the mt. zion pastor talked to nbc news about the strength of his congratulations. >> of course i'm devastated about the loss. my mind is filled and my heart is filled because of these
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parishioners having to go through this again. but they are resilient people. i do feel like we will survive. we will rise again. >> present visited this same church 20 years ago, after the kkk burned it to the ground part of a long history of attacks on black churches. in 1963, the bombing at the 16th street church in birmingham, alabama, killed four little girls. and in the mid '90s, black churches all across the south burned in a string of fires. joining me now, live from the scene of the church is msnbc's national correspondent, joy reid. also with me former atf executive, matthew horace. matthew, i want to start with the investigation. how do officials try to determine right away whether a fire like this is arson or not? >> well you know the main focus of our investigation is to
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try to determine the cause and origin of the fire and try to determine if it's incendiary or not. to wit, if it's an arson or not. we start at the scene, we consider among other things the elements in the virm and in this case, as i understand it it might have been a lightning strike. so we'll evaluate the conditions when the fire started, evaluate the flames the smoke, the timing, and what people saw at the scene. but we'd also do a thorough scene search to try to eliminate other causes of the fire to wit, arson accell rants and those sorts of things. >> joy, how is the community handling this? >> and it's good that you make that point, because one of the things i talked to the local fire chief about was how old this structure was and what was the relationship to the fire that took place in 1995. the original mt. zion church was not on this site. it was about a mile away. so this building was relatively
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new. it was built in 1996. and as you mentioned, president bill clinton came and dedicated this new sanctuary that was built on the site where a local clan group built this down and another one, leading to a huge lawsuit against the klan. >> the local fire chief said the difficulty in determining what caused this fire was the fact that the roof of the structure collapsed. i don't know if you can see it from here but the roof is gone. what he said the amount of debris that fell into the structure is making it really difficult for the investigators to piece through it and determine where the fire started and determine causation. that's one of the things slowing it down. it's interesting that you have nikki haley definitively stating lightning strike. the fire investigator said there were lightning strikes in this area area, sounded by pine trees which are known to attract lightning. however, this structure is on its own and there were no other fires that night that were
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caused by lightning strikes, no other 911 calls. so still a lot of mystery despite the governor's statement, but i think both federal and state officials are trying to wave people away from the idea that it was a hate crime and really are playing up that side of it that it was caused by lightning. >> matthew, let's look at the stats on fires on churches. the best numbers we have put religious and funeral buildings in the same category between 2007 and 2011. there was an average of 1,780 fires for here causing $111 million in damage. and the leading cause for fires is an issue involving cooking equipment. that's 34 fires a week matthew. are these fires more common than people realize? >> i think those statistics are very telling. and fires are more common that people realize.
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let me break it down for you this way. in 2014 atf investigated 1,800 fires nationally. of those, 127 were attributed to houses of worship. of that number approximately 42 were deemed to be incendiary or arson. so it's not a very high number given the number of fires. so your numbers would aline with mine and prove the same point. the public doesn't understand. while i understand as a former law enforcement and now executive, that any fire, any violence against a church and a violence against every church. and it raises the concern, it raises the awareness. it heightens everyone's concern, but we can't jump to conclusions and i know it having worked for atf for 24 years, when we go into a scene, we can't draw conclusions no matter what the political environment is. >> a lot of the tension and the tribulation that a lot of people
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are having all over the country and i'm sure there where you are, and the importance of the church because just last week president obama talked about the important role black churches play in the community. listen to this. >> the church is and always has been the center of african american life. [ applause ] places were children are loved and fed and kept out of harm's way. and told that they are beautiful. and smart and thought that they matter. [ applause ] that's what happens in church. >> these churches are a huge part of these communities and our communities. is that why they're a target joy? >> no absolutely. and this church in particular we spoke with a young man from the henry hand family they have a funeral home not far from here
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and they just did a funeral at this church about a week ago. so this is an active church in the heart of the community. we spoke with a local elected official who is in the state house, who is also an ame minister. you have a lot of people who serve in that dual role as pastors of these churches, but also as elected officials. we just saw the mayor of this city walking the grounds of the church. so this church was very important in part because of that landmark 1998 case when this church and another church nearby were targeted by the klan and won. the other church won a settlement that hobbled the biggest klan group in this area. and the amount of anxiety people are feeling, about all seven incidents, three are arson, the other four still under investigation, i think that's what we're feeling, people feeling anxiety about whether or
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not these churches are being targeted and whether or not there is a pattern. i will quickly say i spoke with the southern poverty law center who said it's possible it's not some grand conspiracy but that they are all individual acts. they could also be some individual acts that are targeting the churches and some not. but the cumulative effect has produced a great deal of anxiety. >> not to mention there are klan groups in areas, even today, as you just stated. joy reid and matthew horace thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. still ahead, the donald trump surge, it's great for comedians, bad for republicans. and now even more companies are dumping the trump brand. but first, mitch mcconnell is back in an old familiar place. tone tonight's gotcha. and we're going it do something we've never done before.
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>> mitch mcconnell isn't too happy about the new plan to put a woman on the $10 bill. just check out what he said about it. >> when you talk about history earlier, i want to make another history debate going on right now, that's replacing hamilton on the $10 bill. >> a really bad idea. which is not to say that some woman or women in american history shouldn't be honored, but the last person who ought to be removed from currency is the person who founded the american banking system. so i think removing him is a terrible idea. >> back in 2004 senator mcconnell wanted the $10 bill to look like this. he promised to quote, take the lead on replacing hamilton with
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ronald reagan on the $10 bill. so taking hamilton off the currency was a great idea back in the day but it's a terrible idea now that we're talking about women like harriet tubman susan b. anthony, eleanor roosevelt, or rosa parks. senator mcconnell's office says he's changed his mind and it was a mistake to talk about putting reagan on the $10 bill. clearly i've got a surprise for senator mcconnell. we just started printing our own money here at "politicsnation," and so he gets the first edition, hot off the presses -- gotcha dollar bill issued exclusively by a "nice try" department of hypocrisy, and there's no one who deserves it more than mitch mcconnell so
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>> donald trump may be the gop's worst nightmare at the worst possible time. today macy's cut ties with trump, because his statements about mexican immigrants were quote, inconsistent with macy's values. and it's the latest of many problems for the trump brand. nbc universal, msnbc's parent company, ended its relationship with trump. univision dropped him and his miss usa pageant. mexico won't participate in his miss universe contest. and a tv company owned by mexican billionaire carlos slim axed a joint project. but the republican party can't cut ties with him.
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and trump is surging in the polls. in new hampshire, he's ranked number two in the polls. in iowa, he's tied for second. and here's the big one. nationally he's in second place. that means trump will definitely be on the gop debate stage. and this is the nightmare for the gop i was talking about. the party is trying to appeal to latino voters. but when asked again last night if he regrets saying most undocumented immigrants are rapists and criminals, trump said this. >> no because it's totally accurate. it's totally accurate. the border is a disaster bill. people are pouring in and i mean illegal people illegal immigrants, and they're pouring in. i love mexican people. i have a tremendous relationship, i also respect mexico but mexico's doing a tremendous number against the united states. what they're doing to us in
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trade, first of all they're killing us at the border. second of all, what they're doing to us in trade is unbelievable. they're taking our jobs they're taking our manufacturing, and they're tackingking our money. >> so how is this going to play out? will we see republican leadership firmly denounce him? joining me now are jonathan capehart and victoria defrancesco soto. thank you for being here. >> thank you, reverend. >> jonathan he won't back down and he's surging in the polls. how much trouble is trump for the gop? >> well, he's trouble because he says things that might play well with the republican primary voter but is disastrous on the general election stage. and that's not to say that he's going it get this but for a party that knows it has a problem with people of color, with young women, with young people and needs to do
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something, needs to change its image, its policies, that appeal to folks in each of those categories, to have someone in the republican presidential race, on that republican presidential debate stage, hurling hand grenades like mexicans are rapists comments is only going to distract the party from the mission that it needs to accomplish if it ever hopes to win the white house again, but also distracts all the other candidates from talking about real issues. >> victoria bush commented on trump's comments, but so far, he's the only one. are you surprised that i been so quiet -- they have been so quiet? >> i'm not surprised. bush through a line in the sand and said i'm going to be the latino-friendly candidate, and also the more moderate gop candidate. he can't run away from his past.
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he's been very latino friendly and immigration friendly and jeb bush knows that he needs to own it. my question is what about the silence of the others? so we see the hand grenades that trump is launching and jeb bush is standing his ground but what about walker? rubio? who is not mexican american, but it latino also and to me silence speaks volumes. so if i don't see these gop candidates come out against donald trump, i'm going to assume that they're in line with this -- >> what is it? are they scared of him? i mean jonathan we aren't hearing them challenge trump. he's not afraid to go after them. i mean he's not afraid to go after the republicans. listen to some of this the last year of things that he said. just in the last few months. >> i think bush is an unhappy person. i don't think he has any energy. and i don't see how he can win.
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>> he's got, you know a hurdle that nobody else seems to have at this moment. it's a hurdle and somebody could certainly look at it very seriously. he was born in canada. >> what about marco rubio? >> i think he's highly overrated. and by the way, i have much better hair than he does. okay? >> i mean jonathan could he damage the other candidates? >> he could damage them by personally insulting them sure and they respond to him in a way that makes them look smaller. he hurts them by saying things that they will have to respond to, that they don't want to respond to, and i'm with victor victoria here, i'm not surprised that the other candidates have remained silent about what donald trump has said because they're afraid of the republican party, republican party primary base. they don't want to say anything that will upset the base and have that base turn its back on
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them. and that's actually very shameful that you can't -- you have people who are aspiring to be the leader of this country, who don't have enough guts to turn around and tell someone, you cannot talk about people that way, that is beneath the dignity of the office of president of the united states. >> you know victoria i mentioned this before the newest 2016 poll has trump in second place. i mean with 12%, mind you. a lot of it could be name recognition, but this is remarkable. second place. what do you think reince priebus is doing about this right now? >> i think he's banging his head against the wall. that's what i think he's doing. and after he finishes doing that, i think he neads to talk to his party and say, we need -- remember that big tent we talked about after our loss in 2012? we need to start moving in that direction. and yes, there is the primary coming up, but it has a general
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election and if the republicans want to win the white house, they need to broaden that tent. this is a god-send to the democratic party. you know the comments by trump make steve king look like a mild moderate. so this rhetoric needs to be tamped down. if the republicans want any hope -- and coincidentally, it's also bad for business. latinos have 1.5 trillion in buying power. you don't want to tick off latino purchasers and consumers. they vote and they buy. >> and it's poisonous, jonathan to the whole political discussion and the need to really try to bring the country together on real concrete issues that lead us forward. >> absolutely. absolutely. we -- with all the problems facing the country today, the idea that donald trump is surging in the polls, that he's number two in the polls you talked about, that he can toss out these hand grenades and face
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no real repercussions from it from any of the other candidates with the exception of jeb bush and i'm not surprised that he's the only one who jumped out there and criticized him. because the one thing we haven't talked about is jeb bush's wife is mexican. so you have some guy in the race who is insulting an entire group of people but also insulting the heritage of the wife of the number one candidate. >> yeah. >> reince priebus is banging his head on the wall and probably hitting himself in the head with a hammer too. i can't wait for the debates, but i really feel sorry for the republican party. >> i can't wait for the debates either. jonathan capehart and victoria defrancesco soto, thank you both for your time tonight. ahead, a big day in the fight for economic fairness with minimum wage hikes taking effect around the country. and one nation one team. republicans and democrats uniting around the u.s. women's
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making the case for a more inclusive economy. and today, we are seeing president reagan on that front. >> today the pay-off for workers demanding bigger paychecks. minimum wage in chicago gets a boost from $8.25 to $10 an hour. it's estimated today's boost will immediately impact the wages of more than 200,000 workers like stephanie. >> with my check, you have to pay bills, bills don't wait. >> the reality is there's not many businesses that are paying $7.25 anymore. you can hardly hire anybody at that wage. >> the mayor said that's why it's time for a change in louisville to give working families more money in their paychecks, so they can reinvest in the local economy. >> minimum wage hikes today not just in chicago and louisville, but also in washington, d.c. and the entire state of maryland.
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it's a huge step in the right direction. protesters have been fighting for these increases across the country for months and the american people are behind them. 71% think the federal minimum wage should be raised by nearly $3 an hour. yes, this is a political and economic issue. but it's also a moral issue. and we need to talk about it that way. joining me now is robert rice former secretary of labor in the clinton administration, and an economics professor at uc berkeley. thank you for being here. >> high rev. >> so this is good news today. about you why aren't wage hikes like this happening nationwide? >> well, they're happening piecemeal around the country. certain cities are doing it. it's not happening nationwide because republicans in congress refused to budge on $7.25.
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which is now the minimum wage it's been the minimum wage. they will not raise the minimum wage, i think this is going to be an election issue, because most people around this country do feel it is a moral issue. it's not just an economic issue. people deserve to have more than $7.25 an hour. >> you know republicans like michigan governor rick snyder are actually trying to stop cities from raising the minimum wage on their own. quote, yesterday snyder signed a bill banning downs in michigan from setting local minimum wages above the state rate. the relationship governor signed the bill because he wants to avoid creating a patchwork of varying regulations across the state. how can progress be made when lawmakers are putting bills like this one into effect, secretary? >> well i think what's going to happen, you're getting more and more of the public seeing through what the republicans are
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doing. republicans are not responding to the ground swell of public eagerness to raise the minimum wage and provide at least a living wage for most americans. instead, republicans are doing the bidding of big business. and as more and more americans understand what republicans are doing, we're going to see a response in 2016. in state after state, in city after city, where republicans have held back the minimum wage people are just going to say no. we've had it. we don't want just big business to see their profits increase and actually the share of the entire economy going to working people continue to decrease. we want this economy to work for all people. >> let's look at the stats on that point right there. because the poverty line for a family of four is about $22,000 a year. but someone making the federal minimum wage only brings in
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about $15,000 a year. how the greatest country in the world let people work full time but still live below the poverty line. >> not only is it below the poverty line issue but that minimum wage today is 25% below what it was in 1968 if you adjust for inflation. and those people below the poverty line you know we provide medicare and housing assistance and we provide food stamps. taxpayers are subsidizing korps corporations that refuse to provide their workers a minimum wage. and by the way, these are not just teenagers. most minimum wage workers today are major breadwinners for their family. they need an increase in their wages. if they had an increase in their wages, they will buy more stuff and that will help the local economy. >> professor, thank you for your time tonight.
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americans were celebrating across the country. [ cheers and applause ] [ chanting usa ] >> the team is coming together and they're bringing the country together as well. president obama tweeting congrats to the u.s. women's national team. can't wait for the finals. you make us all proud. governor christie tweeting congrats u.s. women's team on advancing to the world cup final. jeb bush said incredible game onto the finals. nancy pelosi tweeted, world cup finals here we come! despite all our differences, we are one nation, one team. we're proud of these great women. let's get the championship
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sunday. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. he's no apprentice. donald trump shoots to number two. let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ >> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. welcome to the whacky world of american politics. first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win. so where's donald trump in all that? first the republicans running for president led by jeb bush tried to pretend the man in the golden tower with the beautiful wife wasn't there. now they try laughing him off. when will that no longer be able to work? when will the attacks come? if there's an outside chance that this guy who talks to
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