claire mccaskill dips into our multi million dollars fortune to pay a fine for the schools. but john tester said he would do away with lobbyists money. out of 535 members of congress, he is number one in lobbyists in the nation. it seems like a simple thing for us. this is what they said they will do and they failed to do it and that will be a compelling argument in most of these places. >> the sec is set to approve mobile app technologies which will allow campaign contributions in a mobile way. is the beginning of a building block? >> it is a way for us in particular to raise money among small contributors. it is something that will be used for the aggressively in this cycle. >> i agree, we are largely subsidized by small donations and it is important to us and it will be helpful. >> return to the scott brown race. it is a cross pollination between the brown campaign and the mitt romney campaign. the presidential race has an effect in every state but it will have a unique effect in massachusetts. is mitt romney an asset or a detriment to scott brown being as connected as he

moments ago senator claire mccaskill filed a demand for more information on reports that some of theople responsible for this controversial conference were paid bonuses while they were under investigation. chris stirewalt joins us on that in five minutes. >>> and there is big news today for everyone who owns a cell phone. anyone who has had their cell phone stolen knows it can be a nightmare, and part of it is knowing that someone is rifling through all your personal information. now the nation's top wireless carriers are not only joining forces to prevent theft, but to protect your identity as well. how? shibani joshi has more, she's with the fox business network. shibani, what's the story? >> reporter: it's a problem that is so big that it is uniting some unusual suspects, the big four u.s. carriers, at&t, verizon, t-mobile and sprint teaming up with lawmakers and the fcc to announce a new national database to combat the rising epidemic of stolen cell phones. now, the current set-up making it a little too easy for thieves who do steal your cell phone to go out and sell it in the bl

romney that was 39% positive verses 32% negative, we'll be right back. >>> we're back, senator claire mccaskillin the fight of her life. among their targets is mccaskill running for ree flexion a state that's becoming increasingly conservative. the gop is pouring cash and resource into the state, and she is taking on the super pacs. you have the wind at your back on this issue from this show. nobody i know like citizen's united think this is good for american democracy to have the super pacs running around as a menace in this country attacking people without even a name under who is paying for it. your thoughts? >> that's the really insidious part of this, chris. there has already been $3 million worth of anonymous hits on me in missouri. and i have to tell you if missourians knew who was paying for the adds, they would be proud of me. they would like my enemies in washington. i'm not afraid to take on the big guys, and that's what's so frustrating. if you're going to open the doors, that's one thing, and tell corporations they can give as much money as they want, but to let them do it anonymou

coming up, claire mccaskill.ch her fight, she is coming here, ready to fight. >>> well the republican primaries took a toll on romney, santorum, and the rest, but the candidate that got the worst was barack obama. according to a study, the president got the least favorable news coverage of anyone in the primary season. overall from january until now, only 18% of the coverage of the president was positive. verses 34% that was negative. compare that to mitt romney that was 39% positive verses 32% negative, we'll be right back. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. i just wish it wouldn't fade away so fast. let me show you something. [ dr. rahmany ]

i want to play sound from a new claire mccaskill ad that's out. >> they're not from around here. spending millions to attack and attack. but what they're doing to claire mccaskill is nothing compared to what their special interest agenda will do to you. they want to end medicare as we know it. claire fights to protect it. >> jodi, how is the white house looking at these congressional races, do you think? >> well, their whole strategy, since the beginning of the year, has been to run against congressional republicans, to demonize them. it was interesting, because when i started reporting on the obama white house, you would hear stories of the president bashing congressional republicans privately and there was a little, oh, i can't believe he said that about that group of people. now they're completely open about it. they're demonizing this group of people, playing off the sense of discontent that i think really settled in around the debt crisis period, the sense of exhaustion that americans have with these constant budget battles and banking on the fact that this will help them in

senator claire mccaskill joins us. nice to see you. >> thank you. >> greta: you have been trying to get information out of this gsa for quite some time. i have november 2010 letter. at least one. why are you getting this information? what is taking so long? >> i am busy all the time working with inspectors general across government to find contracting abuses and waste. in that work, we realize a contract that i was aware of in kansas city that appeared wasteful on its face so i began investigating it as part of the committee work and found that in fact it was a ridiculous contract. >> greta: $1.3 billion public relations and advertising contracts the one you were concerned about in this letter. >> i began to realize they weren't giving inspector general respect. that's the problem. i want to push back on what congressman mica said about the inspector general. people need to realize the inspector generals are independent. they work as an independent auditor in the agency. this inspector general did good work here, good

this senate subcommittee hearing on contracting is chaired by missouri senator claire mccaskill who is also a co-sponsor of the legislation. >> i want to welcome everyone to this hearing this morning. i know that senator portman will be arriving shortly. i did want to not keep our first witness waiting. my colleague, senator jim webb, is here to give testimony about our subject today as a brief introductory remark, i'm not going to go into who he is and why he's here because i think most people know who he is. but i do want to say just about why he's here when i came to the senate in 2007, senator webb and i quickly found that we had a place we wanted to work on. and that was contracting and contingencies. his background in the military was a great asset to us as we put together the war contracting commission legislation. and he and i worked on it together and succeeded back in the day that -- before senator warner had retired. senator warner as the ranking member of the armed services committee was a tough sell. i mean, people need to remember the context that this legislation was bro

administrator martha johnson's first time in the spending hot seat here before missouri senator clair mccaskill did you do anything wrong in this contract? did gsa do anything wrong? >> we did nothing wrong. >> reporter: when today's inspector general report identified new wasteful and in some cases impermissible spending, this time the administrator resigned. this is the inn resort where they had 44 a plate breakfast and indulged in fancy food. president obama forewarned about this in a 2010 speech. >> you can't go take a trip to las vegas or go down to the superbowl on the taxpayers time dime. >> reporter: but this report says gsa officials spent more than $136,000 in taxpayer dimes just visiting las vegas to plan the conference. these documents show a $2,400 square foot two level suite where gsa officials stayed. he hosted semi private parties in their own hotel rooms and spent more than eight grand in souvenir yearbooks. total cost, $822,751. $822 grand price wishes was spent on the sick. >> it's very upsetting to find out there's so many people who could use that money to help with their m

about the 2006 elections and having minimum wage referenda on the ballot when senators like claire mccaskilld you in ohio were elected. do you think that made a difference in your race? >> yeah, i think it does a couple things, gets some people out to vote that might not have been planning to vote because they can go out and vote themselves. it's not just the minimum wage worker, it's the one right above minimum wage that usually gets bumped up. the reason that it works is it tells you something about the character of the candidates because politics is not really left, right, center and compromise and all of that. electro politics is about whose side are you on? i'll stack myself up against any opponent who's against the minimum wage and let them justify why they're against the minimum wage, why they're for tax cuts for the richest people in the country, why they think oil companies should continue to get subsidies when oil is more than $100 a barrel. and it's clear to any voter that's paying attention who's on their side in those kinds of elections. you know, that's why the minimum wage is

claire mccaskill is in for the fift her life.coming increasingly conservative. the state is pouring resource in missouri and making all that public money itself. i got to tell you, senator, nobody i know likes citizens united. nobody i know thinks this is good for american democracy to have these superpacs running around as a menace in this country attacking people without even a mention of who is paying for it. your thoughts. >> that is really the insidious part of this, chris, is that there's already been $3 million of anonymous hits on me in missouri. i got to tell you, if missourians knew who was paying for these ads, i think they would be proud of me. i haven't been afraid to take on the big guys, and that's what's so frustrating, is the notion that this isn't transparent. if you're fgoing to open the doors, that's one thing, and tell companies they can give as much money to buy elections, but to do it anonymously, which the republicans completely blocked us on at least having disclosure of who was giving this money. >> a lo

administrator's martha johnson's first time in the spending hot seat here before missouri senator claire mccaskill. >> did you do anything wrong in the contract? >> we did not do anything wrong. >> reporter: when they identified new and wasteful and in some cases impermissible spending this time the administrator resigned. this is the m. reassorted in las vegas where -- resort in las vegas where they indulged on wellington and sushi and shrimp. president obama seemingly forewarned about this in a 2010 speech. >> you can't go take a trip to las vegas or go down to the super bowl on the taxpayers' dime. >> reporter: but this report says gsa officials spent more than $136,000 in taxpayer dimes just visiting las vegas to plan the conference. these departments though a 2400 -- documents show a suite with multiple hdtvs and web art where gsa vips stay. the report says officials hosted semiprivate parties in their own rooms and spent more than $8,000 in souvenir yearbooks. $822,000 price wishes was spent on the sick. >> dollar so many people who could use that money to help with their medical expenses. >

also today, missouri democratic senator claire mccaskill said she is looking in to issues given to thels while they were under investigation. >>> president obama's healthcare law to set the deficit. that is the conclusion of a new study. [ inaudible ] >> the healthcare benefits. produce enough money to pay for both. our viewing is the administration is double-counting and that's why conservative policy analyst predicts the president's healthcare law would add more than $340 billion to the deficit in the next decade as an attempt to accomplish a great deal. >> one is to extend the program. that requires financial retort. they want to extend health coverage to 30 million people. that requires a lot of resources as well. >> white house press secretary jay carney on air force one attacked the report saying, "this is obviously a partisan analysis. it does not comport with the official presentations put forward by the cbo." republican lawmakers opposed to the law argued it will end up costing much more than ridgally advertised. >> congressman tom price knows the man behind the study is one o

and then senators are also concerned with a quote from claire mccaskill. she's asking questions about spending and is also pursuing actions on the senate side. here's one more piece of house news from the hill. mr. town will not run for re-election. he told people and close friends he will not seek a 16th term. we'll be talking about congress coming up in 15 minutes from journalist from the "roll call" and "the hill." for now we're of asking you about your personal income. how optimistic are you? let's hear from susan who makes under $50,000. >> caller: hi, thank you for taking my call. let's get to the opposite end, i make less than $14,000. i'm on social security, i'm 66, nobody will hire me. i have two degrees. you know, i've about given up hope. alone, a widow, last two husbands. and i just can't survive. i don't know -- my taxes are so bad here, my property taxes that i'm going to lose the house that i own because i couldn't pay last year. it's pretty hopeless. >> host: what do you think about the overall american economy? do you think that'll get bet

wanting to get to the polls and certainly if you were a senate from a swing state like missouri, claire mccaskill or from ohio or florida, one of those senators, you would not like to see that number. because remember this, the numbers, the extremely interested numbers are going to get higher for both parties but the republicans having the advantage now means that they will probably have the advantage when you get to election day, and that means that folks are going to go out and vote and that's trouble not just for the president but the other members of his party. megyn: it's interesting, too, because the president and democratic party have spent a lot of time focusing on the war on women, they've called and other issues, the theory was gin up support among the democratic party and his supporters to view the republicans, demonize the republicans, and those numbers suggest, you know, some are fiery, still not at the levels they need. chris, thank you. >> you bet. megyn: the president's reelection campaign is trading shots this afternoon with the romney camp over the issue of tax returns. the pres

citizens united, shelby white house and others in the senate are leading for full disclosure and claire mccaskill all of this outside, undisclosed money. they typically vote on jobs. claire has a challenge. it's one that is worth doing. we will wish her well. >> shareod brown in studio with us, tuesday, april 24, 866-55-press. i want to talk about your own challenges there in the state of ohio when we come back. we will take some calls. your chance to weigh in and we'll do so when we come back from this quick break. ♪ >> on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today. >>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now. hershey's chocolate syrup. stir up a smile. attack on women that perhaps the majority of the population woke up? >> idaho is not known as approaching act i.v. you had hundreds of women show up, thousands signed petitions. they made their voices heard. what happens is that now, the le

something about this, you're probably going to hurt some of those economies so democrats like clair mccaskilles from missouri heavily dependent on coal are in a tough spot on this issue. she's very comfortable saying i believe in climate change. humans are causing it. but also if there were to be a climate change law, it probably would hurt a lot of people in rural missouri and she could lose her job because of it. so, that's kind of an issue that democrats were quiet on. >> bill: in terms of what we can do about it, you've just written in the "national journal" america could have a cleaner, brighter energy future. i know you don't write the headline. a cleaner, writer energy future if the government did research. here are five technological innovations that could one day change our lives and change the world. that's big stuff. so, for earth day, you wrote this piece. like what? solar energy you're talking about? your atalking about wind? electric cars? >> what's interesting about technology -- technology that runs with low or zero carbon emissions is all of that technology is out there right