i want to bring in senior vice president for public affairs and columnist of your way, and matt bennett> good to be here. >> the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and the federation of independent businesses has been against this and here's what they say, quote, small business owners will now be forced to make tough choices including reducing employee hours, cutting positions entirely and for many, closing their doors altogether. there is a lot of pushback against this, as you know. what are the chances that the nation can follow california? >> well, at the moment, it's not very likely since it doesn't appear that the nation can do anything. the federal government -- the congress, at least seems totally frozen, but ultimately we should. we should raise federal minimum wage. look, what we always hear from folks in the nfib and people on the right is that raising minimum wage will be a job killer, but it just isn't true and the studies show it's not true and since 1980 when the minimum wage was $3.25, and it does help enormously to lift people out of poverty. >> one thing we do know is that t

bush administration and matt bennett who worked in the clinton white house. to have both of you, matt, let me start with you because i talked to congressman peter king last night and i asked him about the possibility of a no vote from congress. a republican, a man who is often very critical of the president on these sorts of things. here's what he said -- >> constitutionally would have the right to still go in after he didn't get the vote. president clinton in kosovo, the first one or two votes that came up, they were defeated in the house and he still did it. i think he should do it. i think he should go ahead and strike. >> they says congress votes no, he should go ahead and strike anyway. you're shaking your head. >> i just think it's wrong as a practical matter. he's right that he could strike anyway. there's no question, erin, that president obama retains authority to strike whether or not he gets it from congress. the question is should he. unlike president clinton, when i was in that white house, president clinton didn't come to congress seeking author

matt bennett at third way when the sequester was put in, called it sort of a slow roll disaster and as around the country had been hit by elements of the sequester until enough members of congress hear from enough people in their districts about the real world impagts of sequester, nothing's going to happen with it. the other thing we have to keep in mind is that when we were facing sequester before it went into place, there were people in the building behind me who were saying out loud in public, maybe sequester wouldn't be a bad thing. after all, we need to cut spending. we do need to get our financial house in order. we have to get the deficits under control, so the idea that you're going to get the republican controlled house in any way to do anything substantive on sequester is really wishful thinking. >> so, the republicans are threatening to shut down the government again, threatening to bump up against the debt ceiling, which is scary in the long-term because of how expensive it is for us to borrow. the democrats have tried to open up the menu of options to include ficking the

matt bennett at third way when the sequester was put in, called it sort of a slow roll disaster and asnities around the country had been hit by elements of the sequester until enough members of congress hear from enough people in their districts about the real world impacts of sequester, nothing's going to happen with it. the other thing we have to keep in mind is that when we were facing sequester before it went into place, there were people in the building behind me who were saying out loud in public, maybe sequester wouldn't be a bad thing. after all, we need to cut spending. we do need to get our financial house in order. we have to get the deficits under control, so the idea that you're going to get the republican controlled house in any way to do anything substantive on sequester is really wishful thinking. >> so, the republicans are threatening to shut down the government again, threatening to bump up against the debt ceiling, which is scary in the long-term because of how expensive it is for us to borrow. the democrats have tried to open up the menu of options to include fickin

matt salmon in the house. it actually passed a reform to obamacare that would actually make the republican party more popular, with i is, i know, bill bennettuoting madison yesterday in the "wall street journal" saying congress should never except itself from the laws the rest of americans have to live be. bidder went on the floor yesterday so say let's go ahead and make a part of the discussion the discussion about not giving congress an exemption. taking it away from congress, taking it away from the staff. it's wrong for us to get an comb exemption that the american people find out. >> that wasn't good enough for ted cruz. he added a .son pill and say we need to apply to the entire government. which we know would kill the bill. it seems ted cruz wants to keep that exemption. >> just keeping it all up -- >> the supreme court that can't settle it. >> highs not happy with government. >> he certainly for some reason doesn't even support the basic concept of making congress after -- abide by the same rules of obamacare as the rest of america. >> bidder was not incredulous, but a bit surprised he put in a poison pill to kill this idea. >> so m