washington while bankruptcy burns across the nation. san bernardino, california, is the latest american town unable to pay its bills. the math $46 million in debt. they've made drastic cuts in employees and services. and the city according to the los angeles times has only $150,000 in the bank. that's it. residents are coming unhinged saying, why wasn't this calamity headed off at the pass? >> what about two years ago when they took $10 million from the employees? what were they doing then? now the city is forced basically to file bankruptcy because they have this tremendous amount of debt over their head. >> in the last 14 days, two other towns near los angeles have gone into bankruptcy. other places across the country have done the same or tried to in idaho, alabama, pennsylvania, rhode island, dozens of other local and state governments have made dramatic cuts just to try to stay solvent while they wait for the economic recovery to help with terrible budget shortfalls. and yet while this is happening congress spent today arguing once again about health care reform, holding a symbolic vote to repeal obama care which no one, no one thought would pass, even the republicans who pushed to it the floor. and by that, i mean pass in terms of making any real difference. just to put in it perspective, this was the 33rd time congress has voted to repeal or defund the health care law. >> instead of focusing on jobs, which they claimed in the last election was their focus, republicans are creating a sense of deja vu all over again on the floor by staging a repeat of the health care reform. >> we, on this side of the aisle, care about the health care of the american people. that's why we're here. that's why i brought this bill forward, along with and on behalf of my colleagues. >> welcome to groundhog day in the house of representatives. >> as a physician, one of the tenets of medicine is first, do no harm. sadly, the president's law does real harm. >> we are joined now by one of the republicans who backed that vote today, congressman charles kustanik. thank you for being here. i have all the respect in the world for your party having the right to oppose this law, overturn this law or take whatever steps you want to on that front. but everyone today knew this was a show vote. why do you take part in such a thing? >> in the aftermath of the supreme court ruling where it's very clear this is a massive tax hike that's going to hit every part of the american economy, 21 new taxes little every one of our economy in light of the fact that we have 41 straight months of high unemployment at 8% or higher and very sluggish economic growth, businesses are telling us that they're having a hard time hiring because of the specter of this tax hike. >> i get that, a legitimate argument. but why not hold a press conference on the steps of the congress and say all of that, instead of taking time in congress doing something which your party has been equally critical of democrats for doing when they have held show votes? why don't you stand up and say, we're done with the showboating, things in this country are too dire for a bunch of dog and pony shows? >> clearly, we need to do a lot of things to help this economy to help tackle the debt. in the house, we've passed a number of votes to promote energy production, promote job growth. yet these votes are not taken up by the senate. we have a senate that's doing nothing right now. that's the key point. we're going to keep doing what we have to do in the house to try to move this economy forward, to give some certainty to the american people who are struggling right now with high unemployment, a very sluggish economic growth situation. they want to see action. we're trying in the house and we're going to keep putting pressure on the senate. >> congressman, i mean all respect here, but this is an action. what this was today was a vote that was meant to be a pr stunt just like the democrats have done votes that are pr stunts. and i talk to voters all over this country, democrat, republican and independent, and every time either party does this, their view of congress drops lower and lower and lower. don't you want to fix that? >> well, i do. and i'm intent on providing good solutions to the many problems that families are facing. i can tell you on the health care law in particular, i'm deeply concerned as a physician with over 30 years clinical experience as to what's going to happen with this in terms of cost to family, dealing with ever-rising premiums. we're dealing with higher cost to the taxpayer. the congressional budget office has come up with revised figures showing a much higher cost to the taxpayer on this bill. we've got many, many problems with this, including significant interference with the doctor/patient relationship. so i'm very happy to point out as often as i possibly can in every possible venue the flaws in this health care law. >> let me ask you about one other thing. you introduced some legislation today to try to penalize financially congress member who don't show up for votes. do you think that's going to pass? >> well, i'm going to push to bring to it the forefront and ask the leadership to consider it. the bottom line here is that we have an obligation to our constituents. and when congress is in session and votes are being held, roll call votes, meaning we're being recorded as having voted yes or no, i think it's important to be there to vote. and unless you have some extenuating circumstances, such as an illness or a family illness where it's a legitimate excuse, if you're not showing up to vote and you're going off to political functions and fund-raising, i don't think that's serving our constituents well. and i think there are members of congress who are doing that and i want to put a stop to it. >> i think there are plenty of voters who might agree with you on that. congressman boustany, thanks so much for being here. we appreciate it. joining me now is john avalon. you've been taking congress to task on this over and over again. i appreciate the congressman coming on and talking. but in the end, these are, as i said, dog and pony shows. both sides do it all the time. what ought congress to be doing right now? what could they be doing to help the people in california and idaho and alabama and pennsylvania? >> let's lay out three things that congress could be doing instead of this dog and pony kabuki. 33 votes in a row. one, there is a small jobs tax bill. one study estimates it could lead to as much as 1 million new jobs. >> and both parties are saying, we want to help small business. >> both parties will pray at that altar because it makes good sense. small business has been squeezed. but in this case, this bill should be a no-brainer, it's getting caught up in the bush tax cut debate. it seems to be held hostage, again, to partisan politics where congress could take action and pass something that could help people get jobs this year. >> give me two more. >> second, u.s. post office, people know it's losing billions of dollars a year. this is something people feel and touch every day. the senate pasd a bill to reform and restructure the post office. it's sitting in the house. they're doing the 33rd health care vote instead of trying to save the post office. that would make a real difference in people's lives. final thing, let's look at cyber security. 2,000% increase in attempted cyberattacks against our critical infrastructure. $80 million from global banks. there's a bipartisan bill ready to go in the senate. let's move it forward. this is an economic and a national security issue. these things are a couple of examples, some common sense reforms that could go through congress if they put progress over politics, which is why people are sick to death of congress right now. >> i know people don't -- they talk about false equivalence. the republicans want to say it is more the democrats fault, the democrats want to say it is more the republicans fault. this kind of gridlock we're talking about now, no matter who may be more at fault, can't be happening without both parties taking part in it. >> that's right. we've had divided government in the medication past. this is dysfunctional government. get it together, folks. keep your eye on the ball. work for the american people. >> and the economy just keeps burning the whole time. john avalon, thanks so much. "outfront" next, one of our guests thinks mitt romney knew he was going to be booed at the naacp conference and he thinks it was part of a plan. why would a statesman want to build nursing homes for our veterans only to have them sit unused? that certainly does not add up. and the world's longest funeral may be finally coming to a close. stay with us. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. ♪ ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream i'm going to eliminate every nonessential expensive program i can find. that includes obama care and i'm going to work to reform and save -- [ audience booing ] >> there you hear it. our second story "outfront," boos for mitt romney wn he tells the naacp he wants to repeal obama care. but if you think that puts him on the defense, think again. [ speaking foreign language ] >> romney is rolling out a new ad with his son, craig, who speaks spanish asking hispanics to give his dad a chance. american crossroads is slamming president obama for unemployment among women. and the republican national committee continues its serious assault for jobs that have gone overseas. this is clearly a broad attack on president obama's base trying to make him defend his advantage among those voters. "outfront" tonight, mark hill, david fromm and reuben navarrete. let me start with you, mark. the chances of mitt romney winning any of these groups would be slim? >> slim to none. >> slim to none. but he doesn't have to win. >> he doesn't. >> all he has to do is make some of these people in these various groups start thinking twice about whether or not barack obama has really helped them and made them feel like not going to vote this fall. >> right. he wants to help deenergize the base. he also needs to show independent voters he's not a radical wingnut who wants to alienate black voters. >> do you think he made any headway? >> gettingooed is not a good sign. >> that was part of it. he got applauded in other parts of it. for example, when he talked about charter schools, when he said this is a way of helping people, talking about taking on unions when they stand in the way of schools getting better -- >> the charter school thing are things that president obama has been ambivalent on. most democrats and republicans don't wildly disagree on education issues, largely because they don't know much about them. i don't think that will be a deciding factor. the stuff he did draw boos from were health care and the personal attacks on the president. made him look unstatesmanly and alienated black voters. >> let's go to david fromm. david, you said, you tweeted, if i were a political cynic, and you are, by the way, i'd wonder whether the romney campaign wanted to be booed at the naacp. explain yourself. >> mitt romney was on fox business channel this afternoon and said he expected to be booed. so they put things in there they knew were likely to draw a negative response and said a lot of things that could have elicited a positive response. black america has been hit hard by the grinding recession. though there is going to be a lot of emotional commitment to the president, to really go into what this recession has meant for black america, not only in terms of the catastrophe in the private economy, but the black middle class and professional class, heavily represented at the naacp, that visual you showed of mitt romney being booed is not a very nice visual. but there are also a lot of people in the republican base, people who are the people who like mitt romney least, who may be energized in their turn by that -- >> all right, all right. maybe. let's look at the unemployment. you get the cynical award tonight. let's look at the unemployment for june. i want to look at this graphic here. white unemployment, 7.4%. black unemployment, 14.4%. hispanic unemployment, 11%. reuben, jump in here. same question i was asking to mark here. do you think in any way that the message from mitt romney if he attacks all these groups and says, what has this president done for you, he can dampen their enthusiasm? >> absolutely. he can dampen their enthusiasm. he's not going to be able to turn them against barack obama but he can prevent them from turning out. that's a great sense of ambivalence in many communities and a touch of it in the african-american community. while they personally like this president and support him, they wish he had been more in their corner on a variety of issues. and you mentioned one of them. not just black unemployment but specifically black unemployment among teenagers, among young african-americans and how bad that's been, north of 30%. i think a lot of people are supportive of the individual, but they don't much like his policies and when you get down to it, a lot of those liberals on the left and the coalition you mentioned earlier think he's been far too conservative, too inclined to cave into republicans in congress. they wish he had handled things differently. >> we're running a little short here. mark, what do you think? >> i disagree. i'm not convinced that black people are disappointed in president obama's policies. i don't think that's true. there's no study to suggest that. are some people disappointed that he wasn't radical enough? absolutely. but they're going to vote for the lesser of two evils. i happen to think president obama was too far to the middle, but i'm still going to vote for him, because he's the best option i have. >> david frum, what does president obama need to say right now if he wants to somehow block this message from mitt romney who's trying to upset his base? >> it's past the point of saying anything. there's been an economic debacle and a terrible economic pain. words are not going to convince anybody, especially after this summer's repeated bad news. we seem to get bad news every summer. and this summer, we've had more bad news. the people who the president needs, they know what's going on without a word spoken by any politician. >> we all have to sacrifice in this time of need. we're out of time. you lost your last comment. that's one i owe you next time. thank you for being here. up next, california spends more than $100 million on a new facility for our veterans. so why is no one moving in? and new information about the much-anticipated report on penn state's handling of jerry sandusky's child abuse scandal. that's coming up. tal object hite ground) things have been a little strange. 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(sfx: loud thud sound) what a strange place. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ♪ home of the brave. ♪ it's where fear goes unwelcomed... ♪ and certain men... find a way to rise above. this is the land of giants. ♪ guts. glory. ram. glory. by what's getting done. measure commitment the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ our third story "outfront," we started this evening with the latest town going bankrupt out in california. but another victim of the economy directly affects our nation's veterans. california has a budget shortfall of $15.7 billion yet spent a quarter billion in state and federal funds to build two new state-of-the-art nursing homes for veterans. good plan. problem is, the state can't come up with enough money to run the places. so now no one can move in and the state is spending a fortune maintaining empty buildings. casey wian went for a look in westwood, california. >> we were hit by an aircraft in this left number one engine and we were shot down. >> reporter: 89-year-old world war ii veteran rudy was shot down over germany. he spent 11 brutal months as a prisoner of war. >> i lived through it. >> reporter: now he wants a safe place to spend his remaining days near family in fresno, california, where a brand-new 300 bedroom veterans home was completed in april. but it sits empty because of california's budget crisis, it will stay that way until at least october 2013. in the meantime, hundreds of veterans wait to get in. >> there are veterans out there that are in a lot worse shape than i'm in that should be going into that home right now. >> reporter: the home cost $159 million to build, split roughly 60/40 between the federal government and california. $159 million will buy you a very nice facility. here, there's a general store but there's nothing on the shelves. next door is a barbershop where no one's cutting hair. and just like with the state of california, there's no money in the bank and no residents. this year, the state only budgeted enough money for a skeleton maintenance crew and a handful of staff at fresno. >> understand that what the legislature and the governor were dealing with was a $16 billion deficit. >> reporter: state officials say regulatory hurdles are part of the problem. this veterans home in west l.a. was completed two years ago. 84 veterans including steve and millie have moved in, but 300 rooms remain empty. >> i think it's too bad because there's got to be -- there's a lot of waste in the government. >> these are not like hotels. you don't open the door and fill them with the residents. these are long-term care health care facilities that require specific equipment, specifically trained and specially trained professionals. >> you have to hire people, you have to train people. that story gets old after a while. >> reporter: this korean war veteran and activist charlie waters has been pushing for a home for 12 years. >> they don't give a damn. if they did, they'd take care of their people. >> these facilities will open. they are opening. the commitment is being kept. >> reporter: the plan is to move eight veterans a month into the fresno home starting next october. the question is, will that be too late for vets like rudy? >> casey, this just seems outrageous. i've heard part of the explanation there. but ultimately, how do state officials defend having fallen into this trap, building such a place and n