this is the fifth anti-abortion bill that sam brownback has signed since taking office.ave seen their are reproductive rights virtually eliminated. the state has moved to defund planned parenthood, require women to hear a fetal heart beat before getting an abortion. and force doctors warm women that abortion causes breast cancer. a total lye. the kansas attorney general has spent an astounding $630,000 in taxpayer dollars to defend those bills. these are some seriously misplaced budget priorities. our next guest knows firsthand how important it is for women to stand up and make their heard. nancy keenan is the current president of naral pro choice america. she is joining us from washington, d.c. nancy, welcome back inside "the war room." >> it's great to be with you again. >> thank you. kansas is now the fifth state to restrict women's reproductive rights. how does this not violate the hippocratic oath. >> let's be clear, governor brownback is making good on his pledge that he was going to support some of this extreme legislation, and like you mentioned five bills signed

the bad kansas republican governor sam brownback kansas already has one of the most regressive tax systems in the country with the poorest twenty percent of kansans pain nine percent of their incomes in taxes while the richest one percent pages six percent of their income in taxes and now go to brownback just made things worse on tuesday he signed into law a new tax overhaul bill that will cut the top tax rate in the state paid by the wealthiest kansans from six point four percent down to four point nine percent in order to pay for it brownback will have to fight eight hundred million dollars in cuts to education and social service programs steal from the poor to give to the rich so one clearly missed the point of the story of robin hood and the very very ugly fact so-called news another new study is out showing that fox viewers are substantially less informed about the news and those who watch no news at all harley davidson university published a study which found that when questions were asked about domestic news americans were usually able to answer two out of the five questions right b

this week in the great state of kansas, that state's republican governor sam brownback signed a billcuts taxes for the richest people in the state and raises taxes on poor people. this is amazing. the republican party has this anti-tax reputation but they are only pursuing that agenda for rich people. you would they are ignoring people, ignoring poor people, but they're not. they are actively seeking out ways to make poor people more poor using the tax code. joining us now is ezra cline. column must for bloomberg news. ezra, great to see you, thanks for being here. >> good evening. >> i wanted to talk to you about this because i feel like i need a wonk check. is there some quantitative economic philosophy that says the reverse robinhood is good for the economy? >> if you don't have poor people paying income tax, they will want to vote themselves larger and larger shares of government spending because they won't be paying for it. they will see government benefits and as such go to the polls saying we went more medicare, medicaid and food stamps. it's a political economy viewpoint. i t

. >> amy schatz, ajit pai worked for senator brownback, they both worked in the senate. is that significant? >> guest: sure. one of the things that's different about apsychiatry is he has a slightly broader resumÉ. jessica had worked for chairman rockefeller, before that, she spent eight years at the fcc in various roles. ajit has been at jenner and block doing litigation for the last couple of years because he was waiting to get confirmed, but he was also depp te counsellen -- deputy counsel at the fcc and had work inside a couple different committees over on the hill. so he brings slightly, i think, broader experience than perhaps commissioner rosenworcel will in that he has more intellectual property experience, so it'll be an interesting mix. cecilia's right, they're both actually very young, early 40s maybe, and it'll be interesting to see how they interact. >> host: nomination hearings were held last november. remind us why we're now here in may talking about their being processed. >> guest: well, they got, these two nominees -- ajit pai and jessica rosenworcel --

conservative voting record in the senate, surrounded himself with people like jack kemp, frank keating, sam brownback, ted olson, a whole number of other people who are very staunchly conservative people. so where do you go? if people get down to the election and they say, do i want john mccain picking the next three or four supreme court justices? or shall we leave it up to hillary clinton or barack obama, my guess is they'll largely say john mccain. >> are you going to sit this one out? >> no. i'm not really a political -- i'm not involved in everyday politics. but i don't think i'll sit it out. >> and finally, as a conservative, would you rather run against hillary clinton or barack obama? >> that's a good choice, isn't it? hillary clinton certainly has the record that would be very energizing to conservatives to run against. and i can say if she wins, i think it will do enormous things for the movement, because they'll be energized to spend 23 hours a day to fight everything she does. obama actually has the most liberal voting record in the senate. so when he starts talking -- stops talking about

afghanistan until at least twenty twenty four to assist local army and police but on to war activists brownback it says this won't be much different from nato current military involvement there. think the nato forces in principle with the united states which is really the anchor of the nato occupation of afghanistan are in the process of rebranding what they anticipate will be a very long term occupation going way beyond twenty fourteen they can call the troops trainers they can call them military bases afghan military bases instead of nato military bases whatever they do however they brand it nonetheless the nato forces in principle of the united states intends to stay as we know from the sit in the strategic agreement street strategic partnership agreements signed with president karzai and obama and then with chancellor merkel and karzai the u.s. germany nato they intended to be in afghanistan a resource rich part of the world strategic part of the world they intend to be there for a very long time. tension has been on the rise on the rise outside the nato summit in chicago the latest protest

that's sam brownback governor of kansas and jim demint.n effort to stop health reform with prayer. whether or not you like the idea of separation of church and state. on the political right, the increasing hostility with the separation of church and state has manifest and there's been a lot of overtly political sized religion. you can look at it as conservative religious politics. you saw that in the health form debate and the presidential campaigns. you may remember rick perriless than half filled reliant stadium for a christian only prayer rally to ask god to fix the economy. >> i'm aware of government limitations when it comes to fix things that are spiritual in nature. that's where prayer comes in. we need it more than ever. with the economy in trouble, communities in crisis, we need god's help. >> then he ran for president. this is a thing in republican politics right now. very conservative republican politicians presenting themselves almost as religious figures using religious language to make their policy advocacy argument, aggressi

or sam brownback with the right to deny women any drug that they believe can cause an abortion? don't forget about the virg judicial nominee denied a judgeship this week just because he is gay. here to discuss the republicans' bedroom versus board room focus is former labor secretary robert reich. robert joins us from uc berkeley where he is a public policy professor and author of the new book, "beyond outrage." professor reich, thank you for coming into the war room. >> hi, jennifer. >> great to have you here let me ask you: do you believe that the intense focus by republicans on bedroom issues is intentional? maybe they don't want to talk about the economy after all or maybe they just can't help themselves? >> undoubtedly, there are some very principled republicans who are concerned about private morality, but some of this some of the emphasis on gay marriage and on anti-abortion and restricting contraception, all of that that goes with it really is, it seems to me, an effort to deflect attention from the big issues, not of private morality, but of public morality. what is hap

governor sam brownback of kansas recently signed a strong once there, but across the country that arek laws and no laws in place that would protect citizens who are acting unconscious. it is amazing how quickly this storm has arisen. in 2008, at the end of the bush administration, our colleague defense secretary, issued a conscious regulations all may have of the department of health and human services. these were good conscious, protecting doctors and hospitals from being forced to practice medicine they found morally objectionable. immediately upon coming to this office of the obama revoked of these regulations. with the hhs mandate, the gloves have come off. the carveout for religious institutions is so narrow, even a cloister of nuns wouldn't qualify for religious exemption. knights of columbus grand night karl hansen questions whether jesus is own ministry would qualify for an exemption from the hhs mandate. was his work of always religious, or was he engaged in the food service industry with those loaves and fishes? [laughter] there's a scene in a movie i recommend watching over

if it passes the senate, my guess is that kansas republican governor sam brownback will sign it with a very, very pious smile on his face. legislation like this is a thing for republicans now. the same sort of bill was introduced in colorado this year by republicans in the legislature there. ultimately, they pulled it, but the folks behind it say that they will bring it back soon. in colorado yesterday, the republican speaker of the house killed 30 different bills last night, all at once. bills covering everything from water infrastructure to something to set the standard for driving while stoned. 30 bills, all of them set to be moved at the end of the legislative session in colorado, all killed in one fell swoop, in order to stop a civil unions bill for same-sex couples in colorado from going to the floor, where there was a threat that it might have passed. so there was almost progress for gay couples in colorado, from third class citizenship, to second class citizenship yesterday, but the republican speaker of the house took a stand and stopped that progress, killing 30 other piece

the state's republican governor sam brownback has told reporters, way back in february, that even thoughhad not yet read the bill at that time, he'd probably sign it. regardless of what's in it? he knew he'd sign it before he read it? while we're on the subject of republicans rushing to sign off on any and every antiabortion bill that wanders anywhere near them, republicans in georgia passed a new law an when georgia women can get abortions. it was signed into law by the state's republican governor earlier this month. last week republicans who supported it in the legislature were asked by constituents to explain that vote at a neighborhood forum. one republican lawmaker said he did have concerns about the bill, but he hoped that doctors could find a way to make it work. quote, yes, i voted for it, but i had a lot of questions in my mind about what the implications are. he didn't know what the bill would do, but he figured he go ahead and vote for it anyway. i hope they can work it out. that's how indiscriminately republicans are supporting antiabortion measures this year. slap an antiabo

to your point s.e., this bill is like the bill that sam brownback signed into law saying sher rhea lawed. this is fear mongering at its core, i think. >> i agree 100%. i don't understand how this is helpful to the republican party at all during this political season. we fought this fight 20 years ago and we won. i don't know why we're revisiting it. >> i don't remember this fight. the fight over can you kill babies, yeah, but because you wanted a boy? i don't remember having this fight. >> the fight over a woman's right to choose was settled by the supreme court. >> to choose the gender of her kid? >> it's about a woman's right to choose. mort, we are again talking about abortion rights in a climate where, again, the right constantly vilifies the left and the media for bringing up social issues to gain political points. but at the end of the day this kind of legislation is brought up on the floor of the house and in republican-controlled legislatures across the country. >> i have to say as was pointed out this issue was settled over 20 years ago. i think it's preposterous we have to ge

governor sam brownback of kansas signed a strong one there. across the country, there are weak laws place that would protect citizens who are acting on conscience. it is amazing how quickly this storm has arisen. in 2008, at the end of the bush administration, our colleague issued conscience regulations on the behalf of the department of hhs. ousse were good, conscie regs. immediately upon coming into office, the obama administration revoked these regulations. with the mandate, the gloves have come off. the carved-out for religious institutions is so narrow, even cloistered nuns would not qualify for religious exemptions. the knights of columbus grand knight questions whether jesus' own ministry would qualify for an exemption from the hhs mandate. lly his worked whool religious, or was he engaged in a food industry with those loaves and fishes? in "a man for all seasons," sir thomas more is facing execution in a time of at -- agitation. he tells his prosecutors, i do not harm, i stay not harmed, i think not harm, and if this be not enough to k

supported by the national association of manufacturers including governors association like branstad and brownback well as republicans in the house and senate. in the fall of bill was introduced that has 100 co-sponsors and 21 are republicans. you are seeing bipartisan support making progress building of wind energy. because thousands of jobs across the country would be lost. thanks to our investment of clean energy, we have nearly doubled energy generation from geothermal and solar sources since 2008. winter by has increased 27% last year loan. the visitation tax credits and manufacturing increase the domestic content of recent years. they have now reached 60% that is up 45%. that means more american jobs. while these are encouraging trends thousands of jobs with the supply chain are at risk if they renew the credit. we know from the past insulation drops and job loss occurs. we just wrapped up the meeting with secretary salazar and other individuals, developers, man ufacturers. of the 82 shares of the take away wind has made progress with the efficiency and reliability. this was a banner year bu

the ruling of the the brownback administration decided not to appeal, which was not surprising, and in some ways we saw a victory for religious liberty based upon the proper application of our own state constitutional standard, which is much more in line with a compelling state interest standard. that interest along with other issues happening at the local level in kansas led led to the discussion about the possibility of some legislative action to further heighten the protection of people of faith in a variety of contexts. this led myself along with others to draft a couple pieces of legislation, and the primary point i wanted to make here is in regard to those pieces of legislation. one was a conference -- conscience protection provision for health care providers. that particular piece of legislation made it through the entire legislative process. the other bill was a statutory provision which made it through the house, but then ultimately did not receive a vote on the senate side because there was concern about whether we could get it to the process. it struck me in reflecting upon