welcome back to the big picture i'm sean hartman coming up in this half hour a magin being forced to show identification before you cast your next about right now twenty two states are considering passing voter id legislation i'll tell you

why mandating these photo ids will only affect the most vulnerable in our society then a bill requiring women to undergo a sonogram before they can get an abortion is one step closer to becoming law in texas protecting women's rights or just plain government intrusion but first when it comes to not balancing our nation's budget we really need to amend the constitution to do so. i mean the president's weekend white house chief of staff bill daley said this about negotiations between republicans and democrats on the new budget. how do you bridge this and avoid a shutdown to be honest i would take exception we aren't that far apart we're at over fifty billion dollars in cuts the house passed the h.r. one which was one hundred billion dollars so we're over halfway there i know but you. maybe doesn't realize democrats are dealing with an unfaithful up unfaithful

excuse me negotiator in the republican party in their efforts to cut spending and sure taxes are never raised again republicans in the senate joined by a handful of democrats are trying to push forward a constitutional amendment that would require the federal budget to be balanced so far according to some tallies there are fifty eight u.s. senators and one hundred twenty members of the house of representatives in support of an event that would limit federal spending to just eighteen percent of g.d.p. currently just over forty one percent and require a two thirds vote for any additional spending in them and also requires get this a two thirds vote for any sort of future tax increase is this really a good idea to our federal budget and sure tax rates for millionaires and billionaires remain low and roar on this issue i'm just i'm joined by ken kook honestly and national a member of the national board of advisors for the past the balanced budget amendment ken welcome to the program tom great to be back with you first of all eighteen percent the last time g.d.p.

federal spending as a percentage he was that low was nine hundred thirty one of the depths of the great depression and it was because our g.d.p. had gone from one hundred three billion in one nine hundred twenty nine down to fifty eight billion i mean our country collapsed in half are you suggesting that that we should throw ourselves into something twice as bad as the great depression tom what we're suggesting is that the purpose of tax policy is to maximize economic prosperity for as many citizens as possible and also off of that to maximize government revenues to be able to provide for services that were needful even as we cut wasteful spending in the studies that are out there academically point to percent eighteen. as the ideal maximize the ideal level of taxation of g.d.p. that both maximizes economic prosperity but also maximizes government revenue through the maximum growth rate i think are you are you sure the people doing these studies have been taking acid or smoking or something i mean can you identify one

of the thirty four always see the countries that the most developed countries in the world that has a federal spending as a percentage of g.d.p. that's below thirty percent well actually in terms of comparisons with other countries right now for example the us has the second highest corporate tax rate is only about taxes as a percentage of g.d.p. you want to get it down eighty percent you said you know studies say it should be it should be low i do my understanding is that in many countries it's forty fifty percent some other kind of like about fully developed countries like france and germany they're doing just fine thank you very much and not experience any crisis what would you mean in terms of doing fine if you look at france germany some various countries in western europe like spain it's quite another thing about spain we're talking about france and germany but those are developed nations there are european and so on we in they operate they are why would we reduce our g.d.p. to somalia is because several spending because it's our focus is on economic prosperity not on sustaining an entire state and that's the reason that we have

more but i thought you said the real purpose of us government was to make sure the that the people were were getting what they needed basically and that there was economic prosperity i know you're going to all of the committees that are doing just fine purpose of the federal government is to fulfill the the specific tasks that are given to the us constitution in the purpose of tact which includes in promoting the general welfare. liason the constitution so in the preamble and there's a. good irish chill appropriate to spend money to promote the general welfare is right here in article one section two of the tariff actually section eight clause one. but that's the general welfare clause off taxing and spending it. says that you can tax for the general welfare so long as it's one of the four types of constitutionally permitted taxes where you can get those images are very low or types i guess because that is its duties and imposed excise taxes and capitation taxes and then the income gap in the and then we amended it with the sixteenth amendment right but generally well know that this agreement or spending this

supreme court made clear and us the butler nine hundred thirty six and helping feed davis and thirty seven but the general welfare clause has no government power in it whatsoever it is a limitation on tax and spending power not an empowerment of government that's the us supreme court and they've done it once then in that case then nothing would have been nothing would have been spent since nine hundred thirty six no absolutely not just spending for the general welfare the why are you talking of no lock it was nice to know fido better. products to say more about health or trade substantially i nine hundred thirty seven which is why i didn't help bring the davis which is nine hundred thirty seven all the general welfare clause requires for spending is that spend a national purpose as opposed to a state source or suggesting that all spend all federal spending since nine hundred thirty seven is unconstitutional no doubt all of federal spending must be for a national purpose instead of for the benefit of the state of virginia where the benefit of the states to grass just say that all spending that ends up in state coffers is not it not at all not so long as the canal is getting back to why you have to live that. is unconstitutional or why you want to run is then you if you

were to require an absolute balanced budget during world war two we were spending. we were spending. were to go eighteen percent of g.d.p. or there was one hundred thirty one it was fifty percent of g.d.p. and one hundred forty four and our total debt was one hundred twenty four percent of g.d.p. if we were in a crisis and your memo was in place we'd be screwed and we're not we're not because first of all no that's not true because first of all with a two thirds vote of congress you can suspend the requirements of this amendment for one year with a two thirds vote you can do it exactly to address your honor student is a repair or a supermajority for tax no it wouldn't the twenty eighth amendment that's why this is because this will you want to amend it this is being built right it's written into the balanced budget amendment that if the if there was some catastrophic situation that you could live you know that i live in a state of oregon where where you know right wingers got one of these things on the ballot a job like that i'd see just if you're on the other half of this which is

a very very very difficult to do any anything in the lives of the state the purpose is that the amount of taxation as a percentage of g.d.p. the purpose is on spending that we need to balance their budget but if you're going to don't just spending and balance the budget what you end up with is a state where basically the billionaires and millionaires are doing just fine and the average people there's no social safety net. especially at eighteen percent eighteen percent is to say we have a fourteen trillion dollar economy eighteen percent of that is two point six trillion dollars you know how much government we can afford with two point six trillion dollar a much that's more than the g.d.p. of many nations across the globe and that's where the eyes are united staes week to point out a small fee is the united states we have forty five trillion dollars in wealth i mean this is stansell country in two point six trillion dollars is enough to handle the task but the federal government gives that the u.s. constitution gives the federal government especially if an eighteen percent cap

maximizes growth so that we can increase that eighteen percent every single you numbers out of your backside it's vidor you get a forty five percent rate now and you say it needs to go to eighteen percent absolutely. i just you know i'm just ok so the congressional research service says that we should have deficits a to replace or encouraged to man during the depression the to delay tax hikes during a recession see to make up for monetary banking crashes we've had all those happen in america and beyond that what would happen to the bush family i mean george w. bush was born with millions of dollars home government about the bush years are over with government yet i mean. don't don't people need a aaa rated investment that is our government the issue the issue is. the national i'm actually glad you raised that because in the past two years we've corrected more debt than the first one hundred congresses can. this isn't ronald reagan plan he tripled our national debt in eight years him and george bush and we've got

ninety nine point seven trillion of this fourteen trillion and run it by republican presidents it is absolute in the republican plan and now you guys come along just like judas keep predicted nine times out we're told the last two years that that was a unified democratic government that republicans were in control i'm talking to you are you know i'm a deficit so i thought you were talking about debt deficit adds to debt they're the same thing are gathered at the same thing no debt is the aggregate debt but in order to aggregate debt has been has been exploding every model it can so every business but as a deficit yes you could have heard that david stockman has come right out and said yeah good one inskeep back in one thousand seven hundred you saw today to say that he was february this said we're going to break the government benefit with our good last month was bigger than the entire year of two thousand and seven two hundred twenty three billion dollars and just last night or in the middle of the of the of the of the bush great recession or i know him a little due to your we should break that more tragic two years of democrat government somehow and george bush has and frankly i believe that if we continue to

follow him he would have policies and have. that right because if we keep deficit spending the way we are going to solution is not is say that we're going to cut our for the. the percentage of federal spending from forty one percent down to eighteen percent which is going to lay off tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of people instantly destroy demand because demand comes from people having money in their pockets and locked down the ability of gov government to increase taxes on them if we don't tell me about just the koch brothers and other millionaires and we can lose our aaa bond rating which would have catastrophic consequences to us and harmed japan and their g. and their debt load percent g.d.p. is joy is two hundred percent are you honestly that is one hundred percent your position tom is if we lose our aaa right it is the that is my position is that this is crazy to see eighteen percent of that and to say a two thirds supermajority that it's crazy we need to balance the budget we need to do it now fine and we should have started when with ronald reagan so that he was

going to triple our debt we should have said no then and we need to say it to every every republican forever can cause he thanks for dropping by complicity with you but it's very hard to argue with what we're seeing here is an effort by republicans to enshrine their tea party ideals into the us constitution at best in my opinion it's a gimmick at worst it shreds our nation's social safety net and could lead us all the financial ruin. still to come up on the big picture before you cast your next ballot you may be asked to show photo id after the break i'll tell you why this will not only does a lot like this will only just franchise it's tax payers and waste taxpayer money. actress lindsay lo and even. the pretty child that he's with nothing people are suggesting she's going for you know she says she's a stock. last

week the texas house of representatives approved legislation to force pregnant women to have an ultrasound before they could have an abortion republican state representative the author of the bill a man name said miller said well i'm not sure fully informed they understand the

medical consequences the psychological consequences and everything involved in the procedure and quote. but opponents of the bill argue the measure will merely make women who are already in a difficult situation to lay the procedure to organize the ultrasound and feel worse bill was first there was the first major item passed for the test texas state house this year it was described as an emergency priority for republican governor rick perry i guess a state facing a massive budget deficit takes a back seat to women's reproductive rights here offer their takes on the issue heather sermon for forty public group relations a public relations firm and sam bennett president of the women's campaign from heather sam welcome but it's good to have you both here sam this isn't just jelly on the belly that the government is forcing women to experience in texas if this passes and this is absolutely ridiculous we had south dakota we had georgia we had h.r. three of us congress and now we have this rick perry i still live in matagorda bay

texas rick perry governor rick perry should be ashamed of himself he's got a twenty seven billion dollars deficit tom and this is what he considers an emergency to take women's rights and put them on the cutting room floor it's absolutely inexcusable and it's an urgency because babies' lives are all saying any story going in as well not good no and it's not good for babies sleep something that you know will very urgent by the procedure what if i could row versus wade was passed because women were dying like flies heather dying like flies and so what was happening if you didn't give them an opportunity to have safe and legal abortions they took matters into their own hands were overseas wade was passed to protect women of this nation and you have and we are it really upsets me about this this is not heather about people with real values at stake these are put this is political pandering by the far extreme right of the republican party and women in america need to stand up and protest this is. feel free to respond to that and aren't true

as a conservative a little uncomfortable about this massive expansion of government and. i think very much in support of women having full knowledge of what they're getting into abortion is not just getting rid of tissue and that's what sam's talking that's what i'm saying they're not what i'm saying this is all the thing i want to know oh ok so the way the reason that roe v wade was decided the way it was is because it was inconclusive as to when human life began and now as we have technology showing that human life does begin at conception people like sam are very squeamish about getting in so please stop the program last time we had on this you know of course in my last time on the show she said it would be to do you all the issues we talked about when life began let's reality i was over here have her that's time and i'm telling you right now you're putting words in my mouth i did never said those things the bottom line is did you have a row versus wade was passed because women were dropping like flies because we

don't give them access have there to legal and safe abortions they're going to do it anyway that's not what you think if i had not have to try to answer your question or if life begins at the moment of conception at birth fertilization of you that you're suggesting i am suggesting that i'm sitting out in the front lines should we be going to the in vitro fertilization clinics that are that are pouring thousands if not tens or hundreds of thousands of fertilized eggs down the literally down the drains of sinks every and they're crying every day and charge them with murder right why not i am i am actually began spreading fertilized eggs on ice i do think that you should just take the amount of eggs you plan to use and use all of us i am i going to try to get the state for us to do that that's i don't want to have that special right now we can have come back on you know what if you know what if you know what i do and i'm conception yes and there's a bunch of things in these in these frozen nitrogen tubes and you know after the after the woman gets pregnant they take the rest of them for the time so i'm being

consistent i'm saying that we shouldn't have those frozen embryos on ice so you know right now at our cells no i'm. we should we can have i.v.'s but don't freeze any embryos unless you're going to use them you know take take the eggs that you plan to use and use them you can not dispose of them if you have the strain we have a strange thing called embryo adoption i'm i'm saying we got ourselves with that situation we're going to go back to that we weren't able to have this discussion before the technology is on the side of the pro-life or state rights when i go against heather and i've listened long enough i gave you a lot of rope here the bottom line is we're here today because governor rick perry of texas has said taking away the rights of women is more important than taking care of the twenty seven billion dollar deficit in this country how do you know where there is a women giving me all the information they need to get to disease these individuals were elected across this country in state legislatures and in u.s. congress to fix the economy and what they've been doing they did h.r.

three south dakota georgia what is south dakota south dakota was so that you could in premeditated murder doctors and nurses what was tortured it was actually true. that was if a woman couldn't prove she had a natural miscarriage that she was going to be accused of having a felony theoretically she could face the death penalty and now in this state in texas we have this one what on earth is going on here there you see this is you know you never see because life is that state you know women though these people as well as you know this is just perfect reason why we need more women in elected office in this country were eighteen little men if i were like i would i would still hear how these baby sticks in the world the number of women elected office right and us congress has only seventeen barely seventeen percent it reminds me of the health care debate where we had a man stood up and said that pregnancy was a preexisting condition we need more women and lots of doctors so this is your way through this that women are pro-abortion that's not true that is what that's not

true as more information becomes available you say i am sorry for you today i am not afraid as you know that women are becoming more pro-life. women are she like you is going to do you guys i mean i'm just going to not treat you that was put in a more emphasis on children who are already born thank you i mean as a. community for kids for five years and i've been on the board for thirty thirty one years and i'm telling you there's a there's a lot of kids out there who are living lives that are in this country and people like rick perry want to cut funding for them in fact the republicans at the federal level right now are making a very serious effort to cut funding for programs like the one i'm on the board of these people don't seem to give a damn about children once they're born but they want to protect them when they're only eight so big you're talking about funding this is this bill right here in texas well the reality of legislation this bill in texas has nothing to do with funding that silly texas has it everywhere else you would get women you know behind the scenes have there been any information when this legislation that you're supporting the georgia legislation the south dakota legislation the texas

legislation h.r. three is exactly what tom said when i was a married mother with two children i made an agonizing decision but an important one to have to terminate a pregnancy why did i do that because that child would not have been brought into a loving home i now have three children who are all desired who are all daunted that was an agonizing decision eighty one percent of americans have to believe that we as individuals should be making our own important life decisions like that and not the government what you're supporting is government intervention in the most personal and intimate no it's not i and yesterday you know what i'm getting if you all our information go you know if why are you so afraid of women finding out what's going on you know i didn't have it this way but i usually have three of my best friends catholic or name is anne marie she had a pregnancy had her she was told by the doctor that that fetus was going to die the minute it was born and that her life was in danger she was a catholic this law that you support would make her listen to the sonogram would

make her listen to the fetal heartbeat a woman who was already traumatized and already made a very difficult heartbreaking decision that's why. this law we do have it is inherently next i have to put what they have. sons and i have to read plus i'm sorry i just want to say this is there is no easy solution i am not saying that is this is that i know having an unexpected pregnancy having a problematic pregnancy is the hardest hard to deal with separate there is no easy solution abortion is not an easy solution and what this bill and others is trying to do is give women full information to make a law is decision anyway but they shouldn't have the doors to make it as a sham thank you so much around with thank you haven't. said louise who is happy in both the u.s. house of representatives and in state legislators legislatures across the country are facing a real economic problems republican lawmakers are focusing instead their efforts on restrict restricting women's rights and most of the time is these anti-abortion bills or is this the republicans idea of a jobs bill or jobs for all for some technicians.

republicans aren't just targeting democratic fundraisers like unions in their quest for one party rule in america they're also targeting democratic voters as think progress pointed out over the weekend there are twenty two states considering bills or have already passed bills to restrict voting rights by requiring people to present a photo i.d. or proof of citizenship at the polls in other words this enfranchise in tons of voters publicans contend that the legislation will curb mass voter fraud a claim has been widely proven to be for lack of a better term or a less obscene one garbage as the brennan center for justice at new york university

pointed out in a study entitled the truth about voter fraud allegations of widespread voter fraud however often prove greatly exaggerated claims of voter fraud are frequently used to justify policies that do not solve the alleged wrongs but that well could disenfranchise legitimate voters and that's exactly what republicans are doing as in see a clear in reality voter fraud is virtually nonexistent back in two thousand and four george bush's justice department launched an investigation into voter fraud they were very worried about and convicted a mere eighty six people of some sort of fraud out of one hundred twenty two million voters in other words republicans are chasing a problem that most exists in just point zero zero zero zero seven percent of the voting population. on the other hand unlike voter fraud election fraud is

rampant like when about eighty thousand people in florida were barred from voting in the two thousand election bush v gore because republican stooge katherine harris the secretary of state contracted with a company in texas to scrub her state's voting rolls of modest entirely african-americans and those democratic voters whose names just happen to be similar only similar to convicted felons who lived in the state of texas or when the wisconsin republican party and the koch funded group americans for prosperity engaged in voter caging last year to keep college students and minorities from voting and thus pave the way for scott walker's gubernatorial victory or one republican secretaries of state her like that officials around the country ordered particularly in two thousand and four small numbers of voting machines in mostly minority and democratic districts leading to waits in lines in the rain or snow in many cases of up to as much as twelve hours while at the same time in the white

mostly suburban well fully republican areas there was a surplus of machines an average waits were ten to fifteen minutes even lection fraud a happens nearly every election year and it's life far away mostly perpetrated by republicans several years ago one of those republicans conservative activist paul weyrich laid it out for all of us rather bluntly. how many of our quits have what i call. wrong good government they want everybody to vote. i don't want everybody to vote elections are not won by a majority of people they never help and probably getting to our country and they are not. going to go look for it in the elections why can't like go up only oculus go down. it's simple when more people vote when our country acts more democratically the democrats tend to do better at the polls that's mainly because democrats look out for working people or the ninety five percent of us who aren't

millionaires and billionaires republicans on the other hand are perfectly content sticking up for the richest of the rich screw everybody else back in two thousand and eight indiana and acted restrictive voting laws and what we saw was elderly voters college students and low income people all mostly democratic voters turned away at the polls by republican lawyers because they didn't drive cars in the us didn't have a driver's license i'm guessing republicans would argue these people should have brought their birth certificates with them just like president obama should always carry his birth certificate his pocket you know just to make sure in the most blatant attack on progressive voters new hampshire state representative gregory song introduced a bill that would prevent college students and members from the military from registering as voters in his state of new hampshire if they are only in the state to attend school or serve in the military and hampshire speaker of the house william o'brien defended the bill by saying kids are voting liberal voting their

feelings with no life experience at least he put it bluntly for all of us to understand this is a war against liberals and of course in wisconsin quote brother lapdogs scott walker was able to slip a restrictive voter law through his state legislature but most of the attention was focused on his other assaults against public unions after all he has to figure out some way to win reelection in two thousand and fourteen all together in twenty two states considering these photo voter photo id laws account for two hundred sixteen electoral college votes that's eighty percent of the votes necessary to win the presidency of the united states with an enormous corporate spending thanks to citizens united and union membership steadily declining that other twenty percent shouldn't be too difficult for the republicans to pick up. you know our like sins should not be a partisan issue and the fact that they are shows just how deep the subversion of our of them of our democracy goes we need public funding of elections and we need

it now that's the big picture for more information you can visit our website it's all part of dot com party dot com check out our you tube page youtube dot com slash the big picture archie you know forget democracy begins with you get out there get out can snag you know much cinema.