Transcripts For MSNBC MSNBC Live 20110408 : vimarsana.com

agreed on a number. it s $38 billion in cuts. harry reid said that this morning. the one issue holding up any agreement to prevent a government shutdown is federal funding to planned parenthood. republicans want it, democrats do not in any way. so you re having to see these negotiations go down a road which is quite tricky to navigate. all right, how do you make sure that federal funds there s also a law that says no federal funds can go to abortion, but how do we curtail federal funds going toç any private organization that engages in a broad definition of abortion services and family planning serves. democrats say, look, it s fine to give money to planned parenthood because they do so much for women s health. things like mammograms, things like family planning. republicans say, no, it s a slippery slope. any money to planned parenthood will be involved in immoral causes. that s the issue democrats are saying. republicans say it s spending. where it really is, nobody really knows for sure, thomas, but you have to think that folks all across america right now have to be thinking to themselves could we really lose the opportunity to visit the smithsonian in washington, to camp in yellowstone national part, to have a passport about funding for planned parenthood or baseline levels for a 2012 budget fight? it really has gone down a corridor that is deeply confusing to not only us in the media but i sincerely feel to everyone in the united states. what exactly is the argument about. democrats wanted zero cuts, republicans wanted 61 billion. they seem to have met in the middle and now you re having social policy and baseline levels for 2012, two things which are important to both sides, but are they important enough to shut down the government at 12:01 a.m.? that s the million dollar question and that s a question that the most well paid political strategists in america right now are thinking about. those in the white house, those at the rnc, those of the 2012 presidenti presidential nominees, is it worth pushing our government to the brink. who knows but that s the decision they re making right now, is it worth it. right now they believe it is because there is no hope as we know from negotiations in terms of preventing a government shutdown at this time. the clock is still ticking but there is no real hope right now, thomas. it s less than 13 hours to go. luke, thanks so much. also want to pass along a programming note that we are expecting to hear from senator harry reid from the senate floor coming upç just in a little while, so we re going to keep an eye on that and bring it to you as soon as we get it. again, we heard from speaker boehner briefly at the top of the hour but nothing substantial that came out of his address to the media. as you just heard from luke, the fact that this could all boil down to one basic social policy that could shut down the entire government come 12:01 a.m. as you can see we ve got the countdown clock there on the left of your screen and are watching this as we continue to discuss what s going on in washington, d.c., and get to the real issues, the root of the problems here. so how much is this really about the cushion? we ll hear now from senator reid. the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or sdigys. mr. president, we re very hopeful that we can reach an agreement on the budget today. i ll have more to say in a few minutes. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. i now ask that the senate recess from 1:00 this afternoon till 2:00 this afternoon in order to allow for a special democratic caucus meeting. without objection. mr. president, there s two bills at the desk due for a second reading. clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. hr 1255, an act to prevent a shutdown of the government of the united states and for other purposes. s 768 you re watching some of the formal policy taking place in washington, d.c., as senator reid said he s going to be talking about the budget coming up in a few minutes. in the meantime senator chris koonce is a member of the budget committee and he joins me to talk about what s taking place in washington, d.c. sir, it s good to see you. you re relatively new to life on the hill so how surprised that house republicans and your leadership for that matter can t figure this one out. i m frustrated and embarvááq frankly by where we are right now in the united states congress as we move, i think, towards shutting down the federal government this evening. if we can t come to some agreement on the deficit reductions and on having a clean bill, a bill that really just focuses on making progress on reducing the deficit. sir, i want to interrupt you for one second because senator reid has started to address that. let s listen back in. over their lives they ll be in need of other things, like a cholesterol check, maybe their blood pressure screened, tests that are less serious but just important to a woman s health. they should be able to get the tests that could save their lives. so should every sippingle woman america. i believe that, and frankly, that s not so controversial. it s not so controversial of a belief. some women, of course, have doctors. others, including many of the poorest among us, don t. so where do they go to get blood pressure, cholesterol or a cancer screening? where do they go? thankfully there s a little known part of a little known law that saves many lives. it s called title x and it s part of a public health law. it means that women and girls can go to their local health department or community clinic and get these tests. mr. president, more than five million women use these centers for title x coverage every year. five million. five million. one of them could be my granddaughter. or my daughter. mr. president, some watching us today, and we know the whole world is watching us today, may be asking why i m talking about women s health when the question before us is the budget of the biggest economy on theç planet earth. some may ask why we re talking about the smallest corner of planet earth. with a government shutdown looming not weeks away or days away, but hours away, why are we talking about whether women can keep getting something as simple and non-controversial as a cancer screening. the answer is, mr. president, that republicans want to shut down our nation s government because they want to make it harder for women to get the health services they need. and by the way, title x does not include abortion. it s illegal to use federal funds for abortion services, so anyone who says this debate is over abortion isn t being truthful. it s about simple and important health services. republicans want to shut down the government because they think there s nothing more important than keeping women from getting cancer screenings? this is indefensible and everyone should be outraged, men and women should be outraged. the republican house leadership have only a few hours left to look in the mirror, snap out of it and realize how positively shameful it would be, mr. president. for months this conversation has been about billions and trillions of dollars. it s been about weighty issues and difficult decisions. this debate is about saving money. that s what we thought it was about. but no longer. we have an agreement on the cuts in savings. i was there in the white house last night. and that agreement included a historic level of cuts. we ve always recognized we had to make cuts. that s why we agreed in the white house last night to make significant cuts. hard, but important. but now the tea party among others, but they re the biggest ove its extreme social agenda, issues that have nothing to do with funding the government. they re willing, it appears, clearly, to throw women under the bus even if it means they ll shut down the government, because that s where we are. that is the one issue that was remaining last night. that agenda is an extreme agenda. i don t agree with their ideas on social policy, but in our democracy, those ideas, however radical or however you may disagree with them, deserve a debate if they want one. but that debate doesn t belong in an urgent bill to keep the government running, and it especially doesn t belong here at this late hour. the consequences of letting our country s funding expire would be devastating. almost a million federal employees, mr. president, people who work for the bureau of land management, not a big presence in the presiding officer s state but a huge presence. the state of nevada is 87% owned by the federal government. forest service employees, fbi employees, internal revenue service employees, people who work in this great government complex, almost a million of them are waiting on pins and needles. federal employees are like everybody else. they re working from paycheck to paycheck. they re wondering if they re going to be able to get that new car they have needed for three or four years. they re wondering with summer coming are they going to be able to take that vacation that they have wanted to for a long time. federal employees are like everybody else. the consequences of letting our country s funding expire would be devastating toç people, individuals. it would be devastating to our troops, to our small businesses and to americans everyday lives. people who just want to get a home loan or get their tax refund or, i repeat, their paycheck. it would damage our image and credibility around the world. but republicans are asking me to sacrifice my wife s health, my daughter s health and my nine granddaughters health. they re asking me to sacrifice the health of women in nevada and all across this country. mr. president, i m not going to be part of that. i won t do it. as a legislator, i m very frustrated. as an american, i m appalled. as a husband, a father and a grandfather, i m personally offended. would the chair announce leadership time is reserved and the senate will be we ve been listening to senator harry reid there on the senate floor. we want to welcome back in our guests this morning. senator chris coons of delaware. sir, you were listening to that and listening to what harry reid had to say, basically putting it out there on the line that this has boiled down one social issue dealing with planned parenthood and what is protection to over five million women that visit planned parenthoods to get title x medical protection. when you hear about this, do you believe that the republican side is willing to shut down our government over this one sticking point? yes. i believe what leader reid is saying based on interviews that i saw on television this morning with republican members of the house. folks who were saying this is a matter of principle, a matter of values and that we need to stand firm on making sure that there s no access to abortion with federal funding. i found that hard to believe, because there is a federal statute in place that prevents federal funds from being used to provide abortion services. what we re havingç a fight ove here is even a second point, which is ensuring that no federal funds go to make it possible for millions of women to access health care, cancer screening and other health services through an organization that with private funds does provide abortion services. i thought this was a spending bill. i thought we were here to focus on creating jobs and reducing our deficit. in my view, the folks who are negotiating from the senate democratic caucus have made significant concessions. have come way over the midpoint and have agreed to some dramatic and historic spending cuts in this fiscal year. i m a member of the budget committee, as you said in the introduction. i m eager for us to get to the big issue, which is not cutting billions but cutting trillions out of our budget for the long term. this is no way to run a government or a business. we re more than halfway through the current fiscal year and we are still fighting over the current fiscal year s budget. it makes it impossible for any federal agency, from the forest service to the fbi to operate effectively on our behalf that we re more than halfway thank you the yoer and they have to deal with a house version of their budget that cuts them significantly and a senate version that trims them. we need to resolve this fight and move forward in the interests of the american people. senator, i want to ask you to stand by because senator kyl is giving a republican rebuttal. until there can be an agreement on a long-term resolution, one would think that we would try to keep it going for another week and that we adopt what the house did, especially since it provides funding for the military. the president described in his veto message, he said that the bill was a distraction. i do have to take issue with that. it s not a distraction, it s what s necessary to keep the government running. let me get back to that in just a moment. what would happen if we re able to reach agreement by tonight. if we re able to reach agreement before midnight, then at least theoretically, both bodies, the house and senate, could pass a very short term, two or three day stopgap measure in order to have the time to complete the work on the full measure and then adopt that sometime next week. or and that would avert a shutdown. it s possible also that because in the senate it would require unanimous consent, somebody might disagree with that process and would object. in that case, it would take a few days for us to do the in effect the paperwork to get this done and that would then result in a government shutdown during that time, at least over the course of the weekend. that should be avoided if at all possible. but while there would be some dislocations and inconveniences, i do think the media exaggerates a little bit the result of a shutdown over the weekend. the biggest problem from my perspective is that the military doesn t get paid during that period of time. now, they will get paid, but it s a disruptive thing when you ve got young military families trying to make ends meet and sometimes living from paycheck to paycheck to have that disrupted. and that s why i think it makes so much sense to adopt what the house passed yesterday so that we have the time, the week to complete the work on the continuing resolution that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, that is to say through the end of september, and then not have to worry about a government shutdown and especially funding the military. there s a question that has been raised that s very logical. why can t the parties get together? why can t you just split the difference? well, in ordinary times it might be possible to reach an agreement that way, but these are not ordinary times. we re talking about a country that s on the verge of not being able to pay its debts. the president himself has asked us to raise the debt ceiling i believe sometime next month. that in effect we run out not only of money, but of the capacity to borrosn our credit card in effect, the government s credit card is full up and we can t get any more credit unless we go to the credit card company and say would you extend the amount of money we can borrow. in that case it s the congress passing the bill. we re in a very difficult position in this country. and everyone knows we re passing a lot of our debts on to future generations. we need to get a handle on that, and i don t think anybody disagrees with the proposition. that means we need to cut spending, and that s what this exercise is all about. so it s not just the usual thing of splitting the difference. we re talking about big spending cuts. and i was disappointed in the majority leader s comments just now. he said this debate is about saving money. indeed it is. and yet it appears that the one thing, and this is what he said. now, i don t tend to believe this is correct. but in effect what he was saying is it all boils down to a $300 some million subsidy for planned parenthood. i do not believe that that s really what s keeping us from allowing the government to continue to operate. the majority leader has been in the negotiations, he s in a position to say that. if that s the case, then it seems to me we re in a very untenable position here, at least the majority leader is, because planned parenthood is not the only entity that can provide medical care in this country. we re listening to senator jon kyl there of arizona giving a rebulttal to harry reid who spoke candidly about the what the main sticking pointing that s dragging all of us potentially into a government shutdown with less than 13 hours to go. we re fogoing to talk to former republican congressman bob barr. it s nice to have you with us. we just heard senator kyl saying he finds it hard to believe this is all boiling down to a subsidy harry reid just moments ago said that s really the main sticking point of why they can t move forward with an agreement. what s your take? i ve been there, done that. we went through this back in 1995 and early 1996, i remember correctly. the sky did not fall then when we had a partial government shutdown for a number of days, and the sky is not going to fall now if we have a partial government shutdown for a number of days. it has to do with whether or not congress is ready to do what the american people demanded of it in the last election and that is to start getting our fiscal house in order. how do you see this impacting the republican party moving forward, if you say or like you say the sky isn t going to fall if there is a government shutdown or partial government shutdown? what do you think it s going to do when voters return to the midterms excuse me, but return in 2012 after what we saw happen in the midterms with the house, that is. what do you think will happen in the senate? i would think that unless there is a seismic shift in the american electorate between now and next year, that we will see a continuation of what happened last year. the american people, more so than a lot of veteran members of congress, understand that we are heading for a fiscal catastrophe and that s not changed. that s going to be the case as it was last year. it s going to be the case this year and into the 2012 election. so i think the party or the members that are going to be hurt by this are those that refuse to accept the reality and start cutting government spending. sir, you talk about the fiscal realities, but it seems that the debate over the budget is turning into a discussion of funding of social issues. how are conservative groups like the tea party helping form this debate? the tea party as far as i caç tell, and i know a lot of those folks and am in close contact with them, they re not hung up on any planned parenthood or the social issues. the tea party movement which drove much of the electoral results in the last election is concerned about the fiscal aspect of this. and i hope that that s where the focus stays. sir, i want to talk to you as we talk about social issues at the end of this month, you re scheduled to deliver the conote address to the log cabin republicans convention. for people that may not remember, you helped write the defense of marriage act, doma, but now you support the right of same-sex couples to marry. so why the 180 on this issue for you? it really is a result of watching government power grow tremendously over the last several years. we really have reached a tipping point in terms of whether or not the people of this country are going to retain to themselves any degree of freedom over their lives or whether the government is going to essentially take over control of everything. the irs, as everybody knows, has become the tail wag of the dog and it s no different with regard to the marriage issue. marriage is not a federal issue and should not be a federal issue. yet because the defense of marriage act permits the federal government through tax and other important economic policies to dictate to the states, it has become essentially, doma, that is, a club wielded by the federal government to prevent states from doing what i and many millions of americans believe is the proper thing and that is defining marriage for themselves, not the federal government. why do you think that the federal government should get in the marriage business when you helped craft doma? back then there was a very, very important issue that was before the courts, and that is whether or not states should be able toç force other states to adopt a particular definition of marriage. and my primary purpose in crafting the defense of marriage act back in 1996 was to protect each state from having either another state force a definition of marriage on it. unfortunately, the other part of the defense of marriage act that permits the federal government to continue to involve itself in the marriage business and define marriage for tax purposes, for example, has become over the intervening 14 years or so something government uses to force states to adopt its definition of marrying and that s why it really needs to be repealed. bob barr, sir, thanks for coming on today. we appreciate your time. it s always a pleasure. thanks for having me. as congress debates a budget, many on capitol hill are questioning involvement and the costs in libya. and would adding a third war to our financial pressures actually means. we take a closer look at the end game in libya next. it s positive. positive? we re gonna have a baby. now, when i was a little boy at the age of 5 i had somethin in my pocket [ male announcer ] the four-door sports car. we re gonna have a baby. [ male announcer ] nissan maxima innovation for daddy. we re gonna have a baby! [ male announcer ] .innovation for all. that s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh i like it, uh-huh, uh-huh that s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh i like it [ male announcer ] introducing mio a revolutionary liquid water enhancer. add a little. add a lot. for a drink that s just the way you like it. i like it, uh-huh, uh-huh that s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh [ male announcer ] make it yours. make it mio. [ ding ] [ in korean ] how may i help you? do you have something for pain? oh, bayer aspirin? oh, no, no, no. i m not having a heart attack. it s my back. trust me. it works great for pain. [ male announcer ] nothing s proven to relieve pain better than extra strength bayer aspirin. it rushes relief to the site of pain. no matter where you re hurting. feel better? yeah. thanks for the tip. [ male announcer ] for powerful pain relief, use bayer aspirin. so i wasn t playing much of a role in my own life. but with advair, i m breathing better. so now, i ve got the leading part. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won t replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you re still having difficulty breathing, take the lead. ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. so we are following the latest word from washington on budget negotiations as they are ongoing. we have heard from speaker boehner and leader reid this hour. neither side seems to be budging. sna snoor senators are on the floor right now discussing and the debate behind what s behind the debate. patty murray saying women would not be pawns in this government debate. now, negotiations do continue on capitol hill as president obama weighs in from the white house. a live update next. beautiful sk. i m your venus i m your fire .needs protection. introducing venus proskin with moisture rich shave gel bars enhanced with a triple blend of body butters that create a layer of protection for your skin with every close stroke. leaving your skin beautifully smooth. and your goddess just beautiful. well, i m your venus new venus proskin moisture rich. reveal the goddess in you. a living, breathing intelligence that s helping business rethink how to do business. in here, machines tell factories when they re thirsty. so soft drink companies can manage thousands of vending machines in real time. and customers find what they want.when they want it most. it s the at&t network a network of possibilities, creating and integrating solutions, helping business, and the world.work. rethink possible. helping business, and the world.work. the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. that s what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the other guy s flake is more processed. mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal. welcome back, everybody. president obama postponed a trip to indiana today as the white house works overtime to get this budget deal done. but unless someone gives some ground, a shutdown is inevitable and just hours away. mike viqueira joins us now live from the white house this morning. mike, give us some insight, some good news hopefully about what s taking place as we have our countdown clock as we re watching this ticking off every second. reporter: i guess the good news is we still have 12 1/2 hours to come to an agreement. in case it isn t obvious, two possible scenarios. a last hi-minute agreement down the wire. others might interpret that as 11:00 tonight. or the other possibility is we have a shutdown and that raises more questions. will this be a shutdown that simply lasts over the weekend and all sides come to an agreement after the rubble is cleared after that initial we ll see after the shutdown. after they sift through the wreckage and decide who the winners and losers are and one side comes crawling back to the table or is it going to be an extended shutdown. the last time we went through this exercise in 1995 and beginning of 1996 there were two shutdowns that went along with this. so what we ve seen today, both sides publicly hardening their positions. republicans insisting it s all about the number that they want to cut from this year s spending budget. they re talking about $39 million out of a trillion dollar bill. harry reid says they have agreed to 38. democrats for their part, they want to emphasize the fact that republicans want to push forward social policy, what they term riders. so there s a lot of disagreement publicly and privately. democrats pointing fingers at john boehner, saying he s ç bhoelgden to the hard core tea party and has no control over his caucus in the house. republicans saying nonsense, this is what the american people sent us here to do. that s why john boehner is the speaker and republicans are the majority to cut spending and shrink the size of government. so a noon deadline the president gave last night after the latest, the fourth meeting between the leaders reid and boehner at the white house. we ll wait and see. if anything happens at noon the president wants to hear back. mike, thank you, sir. appreciate it. we are now getting some terrifying reports from the libyan city of misrata where the united nations says gadhafi s snipers are actually targeting children. no word on how many kids may have died there, but hundreds of residents have been killed and wounded in the assault on libya s third largest city. nato says its air strikes hit rebels used seized gadhafi tanks. as for the potential of u.s. boots on the ground i suspect there might be some consideration of that. my personal view at this point would be that that s probably not the ideal circumstance, again, for the regional reactions that having american boots on the ground would entail. general ham there, that is the u.s. military commander who handed over libyan operations to nato last week. colonel jack jacobs is an msnbc political analyst and recipient of the congressional medal of honor. we re hearing from the general there telling senators that he believes that there s a stalemate on the ground right now. when you hear that and we ve been hearing all along, no boots on the ground, do you think there s going to be a revision of that statement? well, we ve got plans to do everything from withdrawing completely to putting lots and lots of forces on the ground just in case. but i think we ve been talking about a stalemate for a long, long time. every time gadhafi s forcesç advance, we bomb concentrations of them and every time the rebels take any territory, they immediately give it up. and the rebels are not coordinated in any case. i think what we re looking at right now is a very, very bloody stalemate. how emboldened do you think the people that are fighting for moammar gadhafi and moammar gadhafi himself are right now as we sit here talking about a stalemate when nato has control, but the u.s. is still involved. i mean we should make no mistake about the fact that if nato is in control, then we are in control. we own the awacs, we own the tomahawks, we have the majority of the airplanes in the area. i think that gadhafi s forces are pumped up and they are loyal to him. don t forget, this is very tribal, but we re not going to let them get very far and the rebels can t get very far so i think we re going to be stuck with what we have. i believe we already have some troops on the ground, sf operations forces, to find out who the rebels are and to get them coordinated. and it seems like a vetting nightmare when you re trying to figure out who the rebels are, if they don t have these special opes on the ground that are coming back with reports of who are these people we re trying to work with. the egyptians are very much interested in who s going to be there because they don t want a big influx of refugees streaming from benghazi, half a million people going into egypt. so they have got some folks on the ground too. so everybody has an interest in keeping the thing very, very quiet, but it s still bloody nonetheless. how long can it continue? indefinitely. we were in becauseosnia with a zone. i think that s not ideal and it s not what anybody intended from the very beginning. but i m telling you, i think we re stuck with that. colonel jack jacobs. jack, great to see you, as always, thank you. let s focus on libya and the budget battle with ourç politil panel. julian epstein and doug heye. gentlemen, good morning. the two big topics, i want to start with the budget. julian, there are three key players here. if the government does shut down can the white house and democrats successfully put this on the other party or are they going to have egg on their face? i think that s exactly the question. i think anybody who was around in 1995 during the budget shutdown then knows at a certain point in the debate there is a tipping point. one side wins the argument and the other side loses the argument. i think we are at that point right now. the democrats have conceded the $35 billion in cuts. the way the issue is being framed is the republicans want to persist with a government shutdown because they want to stop funding for things like cancer screening for women, as harry reid put it. that is an argument that the republicans cannot win. so i think we have hit the tipping point and i think boehner has been outmaneuvered here. doug, we talk a lot about the winners and losers out of this. is there a case to be made that it s the house democrats and senate republicans that really win by not being amongst the key players here? no. i think everybody, you know, has to respond to their constituents in their district where people are concerned about a possible shutdown. as families have to tighten their belts, as they have to redo their budgets, they understand that congress should do the same. instead of trying to talk about social policy, which only democrats are talking about, they want to see congress really address spending. that s why republicans came to power and it s why i m actually comfortable with where the debate is right now. we re not talking about whether or not we re going to cut spending, we re talking about how much we re going to cut spending. we put a bill in front of the president. if the president as commander in chief doesn t want to fund our troops and keep the government open, that s something he ll have to explain to the voters. but do you think it boils down to social issues? should it boil down to this one sticking poyn,et we ve got the clock running on the screen. that s exactly right. i would point out to doug it s the democrats that proposed funding the military even if we went into a shutdown. secondly, this is not about spending cuts because both republicans and democrats are very, very close on the spending cuts. it is about one thing and one thing essentially, which is that the trick of these things is to come out with your base and the independents on your side. boehner has done exactly the opposite. he s painted himself into a corner where he has to choose between his base on the one hand and independents on the other side. by sticking to the social issues and making the social issues like funding for cancer screening of women, by making that the issue on which government funding is going to continue or is going to be shut down, this is an argument that republicans cannot win with the independents. i think what is happening right here is that the republican party is making a decision that they cannot become a national party in 2012. they cannot win the white house. what boehner is trying to do is to hold on to the house of representatives, keep a majority there, by keeping his base happy. but he has created a situation that is so polarized between independents and the base and his political base, the tea party base, that he has to choose between one of those two. by doing that, he has utterly failed and missed the essential point of 1995. i ve only heard democrat talk about social issues. harry reid who was just on your air about ten minutes ago talked about nothing but social policy. we re talking about cutting spending and bringing fiscal sanity back into this process. families know they have to cut budgets, as their gas prices, for instance, increase. they have to further cut their budgets. they don t understand why democrats in washington refuse to do so. and this is why republicans came to congress, to do this very thing. [ overlapping speakers ] i want to talk to you about what s going on in libya because that is a very important issue right now. ju general that there is potential for boots on the ground. doug, in your estimation, we really can t get out of this situation unless maybe we do put boots on the ground there? it appears that s the case. i think republicans over the past two weeks have said that they wish they saw certainly i wish we saw more leadership from our president on this. you know, more of a map forward, which we didn t get from the president. but if the president steps up and does the right thing, republicans will support him. julian, can we get out of libya without having putting our own troops on the ground at risk? i think the situation is fluid there. i think troops are an option on the ground. i think it would be preferable to be able to do it with our air superiority. it s a fluid situation. i think that, you know, this is something that the president will have to make a decision on depending on developments. but i think the fact that the statement the president has not shown leadership on this is silly. he had support from the arab league, from european nations, from the united nations, support from the american people. articulated what the goal was, which was to stop the massacre in eastern libya, had the country behind him. did everything the previous administration failed to do when it came to an international conflict. i think has handled this as a model in terms of how we ought to handle armed conflict internationally. so whether or not we put troops on the ground is an open question. guys, i ve got to run. thanks for coming on, we appreciate your time. so there s been a lot of talk about leadership in congress this week. what role do women play today in building a stronger american future? [ male announcer ] unrestrained. unexpected. and unlike any hybrid you have ever known. introducing the most fuel-efficient luxury car available. the radically new, 42 mile per gallon ct hybrid from lexus. welcome to the darker side of green. how are you getting to a happier place? running there? dancing there? how about eating soup to get there? campbell s soups fill you with good nutrition, farm-grown ingredients, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell s. it s amazing what soup can do. oh, bayer aspirin? i m not having a heart attack. it s my back. it works great for pain. [ male announcer ] nothing s proven to relieve pain better than extra strength bayer aspirin. it rushes relief to the site of pain. feel better? yeah. thanks for the tip. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp. medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn t cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you re already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp. medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses. not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars. out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans. exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you ll get this free information kit. with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you ll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don t need a referral to see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you ll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don t end there. choose from a range of medicare supplement plans. that are all competitively priced. we have a plan for almost everyone, so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. with all medicare supplement plans, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. plus you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare. and best of all, these plans are. the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp. i had only one thing to say. sign me up. call the number on your screen now. and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you ll get this free information kit. and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that s right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn t. and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. bill up and pass we are following very closely the latest word from washington on budget negotiations. we ve heard from speaker boehner and leader reid. the democrats are standing firm asking the speaker to help president obama reach a deal. dick durbin just said it would be an embarrassment to let the government shut down. senate republicans are voicing their frustrations over the lack of spending cuts. as part of msnbc s week-long look at the black agenda and efforts to build a stronger america, we examine the role that women play as leaders in this country and how their involvement helped shape the discourse needed to solve our nation s most substantial problems. i m joined by melissa harris-perry, professor of political science and african-american studies at princeton university and stephanie brown, national field director for the naacp. ladies, thanks for coming on today. stephanie, i wantç to start wit you because right now we re on the brink of this government shutdown as republicans and democrats continue to spar over a budget deal to fund the federal government for the rest of the year. we see a lack of women and minorities in that discussion. how would you handle the situation if you were on the hill? one thing that we know for sure is that the black women s agenda is the american agenda, and so we ve seen many congress leaders speaking up on behalf of women s rights. we know that at the forefront we need to pay attention to having good jobs, having living wages in our communities and having safe communities. so i would handle it by listening to the constituents, listening to what s best for the american people and being able to really respond to the needs of the community in order to get the results that we need. melissa, you grew up in the south where you say progressive politics, gender politics and interracial politics is harder than in, say, d.c. or new york. how do you hope to bring more visibility to that region and also bring more conversation to those issues. i really love what steanie just said about the extent to which the black women s agenda are representative of an american agenda. i grew up in the south, i m living now in louisiana. beginning in the fall i will be heading a new center at tulane. i believe that when we answer those questions, how we do progressive politics. and my progressive i don t necessarily mean democratic party. i mean politics that addresses the least of these. those with the fewest resources, those in most need of a social safety net. when we figure out how to address those needs in a place like the south, the deep south, the gulf south, that s when we figure out exactly the answers that the whole country needs. and, you know, we see it right now in this budget battle and the potential shutdown of the government. stefanie, i know you ve done a lot of work to encourage the young african-americans out there to get involved and also to reach for their dreams. so give us the impressions that you get back from people who are out there right now and the ideas about their future and how they re encouraged. what s the attitude? you know, it s interesting. i was a student at howard university. i went back a few months ago. one of the things that struck me that really unnerved me was that many of the young women on campus did not want to hold leadership positions because they felt as if it wasn t cool or was not attractive to men. and so i think, you know, the balance to that is that on many of our college campuses, especially at the naacp, we have young women leaders who are taking the helm and taking the lead role in addressing civil rights issues in their communities, but we still have these young women who feel as though perhaps their voice can t be heard in the arena when they re talking about how changes can positively affect their lives. so it s the responsibility of not just those government leaders but community leader and institutions to make sure we are reso resourcing our young people. speak out and speak up for their interests. one of the fastest growing segments. prison population is young women. many of those young women are three times more likely to have been abused sexually and physically as young people. so it s our responsibility to speak up for them to make sure they have safe communities so they can have a bright future. melissa, as a professor of political science at princeton, i want to ask your opinion of the current budget battle in d.c. and what you think about the sticking point harry reid is saying, it s basically boiling down to funding for planned parenthood. look, in this last election for the very first time we lost ground on the number of women elected to the u.s. congress. the first time in 30-some odd years. so despite all of the hullabaloo it turnedç out after the dust cleared that we lost ground on republican and democratic women in the congress. here just a few months later we re reaping the whirlwind of that, where women s health issues and let s be really clear. planned parenthood funding is about women s health. it is already a matter of federal law that federal moneys cannot go to fund abortions. so this defunding of planned parenthood will defund mammograms, it will defund cervical cancer screening, it will defund the basic birth control care need. and particularly poor women, minority women, women living in marginal and vulnerable communities, women as stephanie just was just talking about who are sometimes the victims of sexual abuse and violence, so we need women in office because it is women in office who are often standing as the bulwark against exactly this sort of politics, which says, we re going to balance the budgets on the backs of poor women. it is obscene that we have come to this. you mackke a great point. melissa harris perry, stephanie brown, thank you for coming on today. we appreciate it. a programming note for you, a stronger america, the black agenda airs this sunday on msnbc at noon eastern hosted by ed schultz. while we await word on whether or not there is going to be a government shutdown there is no question this budget and the one to follow have serious implications for the financial health of our country. we take a closer look at affording retirement in troubled economic times. of retirement . no problem. td ameritrade has all kinds of answers. call us for quick help opening your new ira. or an in-depth talk with a retirement expert. like me. stop by my branch for a free retirement check-up. retirement hows and how-muches? whens. and what-ifs? bring em on. it s free. you re gonna retire. and we re gonna help. retirement answers at td ameritrade. roll over your old 401(k) and get up to $500. [ steam hissing ] an accident doesn t have to slow you down. from accident forgiveness and 24-hour claims assistance to a lifetime repair guarantee, we help you move on. to learn more, visit us today. liberty mutual auto insurance responsibility. what s your policy? that has implications for all of us, it is also the policy issues. up next, the debt ceiling and runaway costs of entitlement programs like social security and medicare. as these programs get a cold hard look, the aging american population can help but look at how their own futures are affected. so why does this all matter to you? if you are among the baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964, your retirement is looking different than you might have imagined. according to the associated press and life goes strong.com poll, only 11% of the boomers think they ll be able to retire in comfort while one in four boomers believe they will never retire. it gets worse when you ask them about financial security. 55% are uncertain they even have it. 44% express little to no faith in having any money when they quit their jobs. and 64% actually see social security as the key to getting by in their golan years. as for the boomers who did save the economic crisis of the last three years took a toll nearly six in ten say their real estate investments or workplace rye tireme me retirement plans lost money.ç there we have it. that will do it for me today. stay with msnbc all weekend for the latest on the possible government shutdown. i m thomas roberts. i ll see you back here monday, for sure, at 11:00 a.m. eastern. maybe more tonight at 12:01 i ll be with you if we have a government shutdown but contessa is here now. good to see you. not only are we watching the looming showdown to shutdown, we also are talking to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about what is at stake here. we have democratic senator sharon brown and republican senator tom barroso who will join me live. what is a happy meal without the happy, the toys that come in it? why in the world one new york city councilman thinks getting rid of the toys mean kids won t be addicted to french fries, cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, mm. he joins me next. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that s a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on. her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. good friday, everybody. i m contessa brewer covering the big news coast to coast. and the big story we re watching right now, the deal breaker, no days to go, a government shutdown now just hours away. as democrats and republicans fight to the finish. frustration and fear are growing as americans demand more from their elected representatives. they don t have, you know, average joe s interest in mind. they re not looking out for the little man. thi