Legislative vaned. Dusting off his boxing gloves, reid singled out Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell for leaving him no other options than to go nuclear air. The republican leader has failed to live up to his commitments. He has failed to do what he said he would do, move nominations by regular order except in extraordinary circumstances. I refuse to unilaterally surrender my right to respond to this breach of faith. Michael of course, mcconnell struck back claiming that reid was manufacturing a crisis to replace the senate mandate of advice and consent with quote sit down and shut up. It appears as if theyve convinced the majority leader to do their bidding and hijack the senate. Theyre not interested in advise and consent. Theyre not even interested in what this would mean down the road when republicans are the ones making the nominations. They want the power and they want it now. They dont care about the consequences. Michael the consequences . Senator, you want to talk about the consequences . How about the fact that republican obstructionism has resulted in Student Loans doubling, sensible gun control failing, Immigration Reform teetering over a cliff and of course sequester cuts that have crippled economic recovery. This is the game for republicans, by stone walling every appointment and legislative item the Obama Administration has sent up to the hill, the republicans have made it virtually impossible for the government to function properly under this president. That is the mandate of Mitch Mcconnell who said well continue to say no. Its been 131 days since Gina Mccartney was nominated to head the epa. Thats the longest period in American History that the epa administrator has been blocked. Pending labor secretary thomas perez has been twiddleing his thumbs since april. And Richard Cordray has been waiting since 2010 to officially head the Consumer Financial protection bureau. Harry reid said they have been sitting on the sidelines along enough. Read will move to go to executive session to hold seven votes for seven nominees today. The filibuster showdown begins. Here to discuss the flap over the filibuster are two of our special guests yahoo political reporter chris moody coming from new york not washington, and wayne slater, senior Political Writer for Dallas Morning News, he comes to us from austin, texas. I mean, this is fairly quick. Does that mean he might have the support of the 51 Senate Democrats to change the chamber rules. I cant imagine hes bluffing. Hes not going to hold a vote and then lose. He may have come to this realization, as you said, it seems to be coming from nowhere but it could have longterm consequences for both parties. Power shifts from one foot to the other here in america and i wouldnt put it past republicans once this Nuclear Option has been made precedent, for them to use it in event of a Republican Administration later. Is reid going to go forward on this, that has yet to be seen. Michael i was going to bring that up with you in a moment, but since youre obviously more pr rcient than i. They need six seeds to switch. We know south dakota, then the ones theyre defending, North Carolina arkansas, and alaska, isnt this risky of harry reid . Well, i think so. Its not just the power in the senate. Its the presidency, too of course, weve got an election in quite a few years. But its almost as if hes thinking short term. The republicans did this quite a bit when they expanded the role of the presidency under george w. Bush then they were astonished to see that president obama was taking the power that they gave bush in the office. Both sides do this. Its remarkable. Then they look shocked when the power changes hands a couple of years later. Michael thats the funny part, oh my god, i cant believe it. If the shoe was on the other foot mcconnell would not hesitate for a moment to use the Nuclear Option. I think what is happened here you have not just one chamber but you have the white house. In terms of the moving policy in general whether it would be guns guns, climate control, dealing with budgets and now immigration, the democrats i think, would look and see why dont we see if we can do this without Something Like the Nuclear Option. If in fact, you believe as harry reid and some democrats do brief this is an extraordinary moment in which no matter what the president proposes, if the president wants it, we dont want it. This isnt just a game in which some nominees executive nominees are being held up for a while. Thats happened for years. It happens from time to time. This is essentially every piece of legislation even potential things with consensus like guns, some level of gun control and immigration or effectively being delayed and possibly stopped along the way simply because one party says we dont vote for anything but that the guy in the white house wants. Hold on one second. President obama has been push something hard for Immigration Reform, that just passed by 68 votes. It seemed up to that point that everything that the president wanted was going down. But then immigration came along. I would like to be curious why that one issue actually worked. Michael no, chris, thats a really good point. That has an immediate ballot box implication, and the senate snowing that the house wasnt going to do anything on it, that may have come into play. That is a really good point. Finallingcoming off the victory, how do you explain that . The timing of this right after finally, an exhale . Well, look, there is a difference between executive nominations and some legislation and immigration. In the senate there really were republicans who understood for their own self interest. There is nothing wrong with that. Thats part of the government process, for their own self interest and their party they came in with the 68 votes. I do suggest that there is an agreement somewhere. Of course, they agreed in the senate and immigration looks stalled or delayed in the house. Michael thats true. Chris, im going to ask you to make a guess here. You cover that city so closely so well, do you think the white house is behind Something Like this at all . Do you think harry reid lets president obama directly know this is what im going to be doing, mr. President im going to be doing it now . Im sure they communicate although president obamas messaging with the senate is not as close as other president s or their communications with them. But i would say that this is something that the base has called for for a long time. They want filibuster reform. They are tired of republicans putting up a wall against the president s agenda, and theyve called on reid to do something here for quite awhile. It really does throw a bone to the base that wants bills to move at a quicker pace. Michael i want to move away from d. C. For a moment and ill turn to the new york mayoral race. The former governor eliot spitser is ahead of scott stringer, 42 to 33 . Is spitzer going to win this race . And are we making too much of it . Were not making too much of it. This is extraordinary. The whole run of the sex scandals and narrative. If there is something that politics like is the back slider redeemed. Im not sure that Eliot Spitzer is redeemed, but this is an amazing move in new york city. I dont know if hes going to win or not but it certainly looks like the guy is going to win. It is amazing. Michael it really is amazing. And when you look at anthony weiner, as we talked before. Yes. Michael chris, what is your take on it . Youre losing the vocabulary race will, but lets see what you can do with it. I was in South Carolina running around with mark sanford, and he won. And then a couple of weeks later we have congressman weiner running for new york mayor now this. In media if you have three examples you got yourself a story. And you got yours a narrative here. It will be fascinateing. Imagine if all three of these guys win and theyre back in power. Then 2013 is the year of mans redemption in politics. Well have our own set of scandals next year and then five years after that we can all be redeemed again. Michael thats exactly right. You might have people trying to get into a scandal to make a comeback. I invite to you stick around an well have a whole lot more. On the show, immigration can we get a deal . If so, what needs to happen . Well tackle that right after the break. Immigration in washington might bepolitical life or death at the border its the real deal. Honest. They know that im not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know im going to be the first one to call them out. Cenk on air whats unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. Cenk off air i dont want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. Cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they cant buy our politics anymore. Cenk off air and they can question if im right about that. But i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. Cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts narrator uniquely progressive and always topical the Worlds Largest online news show is on current tv. Cenk off air and i think the audience gets, this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us. Only on current tv did anyone tell the pilgrims they should selfdeport . No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians laughing. Thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. Michael yesterday, 500 undocumented young people or as they call themselves dreamers, reallied inside the u. S. Capitol. Their singing and flag waving was prompted by leaders directly below them. Theyre discussing the future of the immigration bill, and in turn the future of those very dreamers. Their newest concern that the path of citizenship will be xd out of the bill. Representative john culver son of houston said that many wont vote on the bill if it includes a path to citizenship. He said its unnecessary its illogical. Nancy pelosi the other day told the house they need to get going. Why do we delay . Why dont we get to the business of doing the bill. Im respective of any way he wants to bring it to the floor in parts or whole, whatever it is but we really should get moving on it. And see where there are areas where we can pass a bill so that we can go to conference and then have the further discussion. Michael she thinks if Immigration Reform cant get done this year it wont get done in the election year. Shes probably right. Back with us now are the best and brightest. We just call them wayne and chris, senior political reporter for the dallas news. And chris moody. We knew that Immigration Reform was not going to be easy but now there is talk of splitting it up in little parts. What will this do to this . There has always been talk of that. But weve asked over and over House Republican leaders can a path of citizenship pass the house . They never answer. You ask them again and they wont answer. They say were going to do our own thing, theyre going to do enforcement first. Heres the complicated problem. If the republicans get enforcement as one single bill what incentive do they have to go along with the democrattings laterdemocratslater for a path to citizenship. Theyre saying we need to do this all together. If you look at the senate bill on enforcement youve got a 700mile wall and 40,000 new Border Security folks on the border there. That is a republican dream when it comes to Border Security. But theyre not going to take it if it comes with the path to citizenship together. You got to do them together because both sides dont trust each other enough to do one after the other. Michael yes, that makes perfect sense. Wayne, nancy pelosi said in that News Conference that Immigration Reform will get it done because they want it done. But the American People wanted background checks, too. So i oh wonder if pelosi is right. How is it that the house cannot see the virtue of the single bill. There are so many members who come from district like John Culbertson who says i dont want this kind of bill. A bill that includes any path of citizenship there is no incentive for so many house members to go along with some kind of i am immigration bill. What you heard from nancy pelosi was, basically okay, were going to go with you boehner can get through. Thats a couple of pieces that have to do only with security. Then we go to conference. Thats what some house members are worried about in a meeting yesterday in washington of the house conference where some house members say gee whiz, what if we get rolled and the final consensus bill we have to vote on includes a path to citizenship. If and when that happens the fear as we just heard maybe the house simply wont go along with it, and immigration is dead. This is a tough tough road ahead. Michael it seems to be that. Listening to what youre saying wayne, when you think about it. When its the house of representatives, i dont remember, and maybe you do, a house that was so deaf to public opinion. Im sure it has happened in in the past, old but not that old. I do not remember it in recent history. Do you remember a precedent for this . I dont, and there is a wonderful book the big sword. It says weve become so divided with the jerry monday der gerrymandering process the political process, you can create this kind of environment where there is simply no incentive for enough members in a body like the house to go along with something even though its clearly in the public interest. Even though the public wants it. Even though in this case the chamber of Commerce Business interest Many Democrats hispanics want it. There is a coalition of voters who dont want it because they go back home, and this group is beat up by a constituency that says no path to citizenship. Dont look weak or well vote against you next year. Yes, even the congressman from houston culbertson. Chris moody, the farm bill which for decades has passed without any problem. It passed today with 216208. Has the house found new power here as they split these bills apart . Im not sure how this new action in the house of passing this bill without the food stamps fits in to the Republican National committee to call for a new tone among the party to make them look for compassionate. Theyre flexing their muscle, and the conservative stronghold within the republican house. Boehner is traditionally a centrist republican, but you have more and more conservative people who started coming in 2010 who are showing what they can do, and you have to play ball with them if you want to get anything done. Thats the way it is in washington right now and for them theyre hoping its going to be that way for a long time. Michael i would have to say its working for them now but i cant see it working as you said for a long time. Wayne, tomorrow the texas abortion bill goes to the senate for a final vote and will likely pass and be signed into law. Today Rick Santorum appeared in audience without a sweater vest because its july in austin to comment on congressman westboundy davis sudden popularity. Here is rick. You have a radical small group in the texas senate who blocked this bill. The person who blocked it is lionized by the media. Wildly supported by the president and everybody in their party for taking an extreme point of view by any stretch of the imagination. Michael wayne, what will wendy daves sudden fame do towards making texas a bluer state . Well look, there are democrats who really want her to run for governor next year. This is a seat that rick perry announced this past week that he was not going to run again. It would be very very difficult. But what she has clearly done is energized voters. Energized a number of women voters and democrats who havent had very much to smile about in a while. And so even if she doesnt run and im not sure whether shes going to run for governor or not. It would be a big big obstacle. One of the things that i think the affect is that this next election because of this war on women narrative that the democrats have offered up, you have an energized democratic moderate women in the suburbs and rising latino population that by the time we get to 2016 if and when Hillary Clinton is the president ial nominee, then you begin to see in texas by 2016 and 2018 this real potential for enormous new groups of voters to come out and to vote democrat. Dont look for this to happen next year, but it may be closer than some people think. Michael yes, i would agree with that. Wayne slater of the Dallas Morning News and ch