There can be no games, no room for avoidance or anything less than compliance. We keep the pressure on the assad regime. This is an extraordinary achievement. You dont negotiate with your best friends but your enemies. I want to thank president putin for his willingness to pick up on the possibility of negotiating an end to syrian weapons of mass destruction. Major breakthrough today on efforts to secure sir whys chemical weapons. U. S. And russia announcing a deal to bring them under international control. The principles that the United States and the Russian Federation have agreed on today can with accountable followthrough allow us to expedite the elimination of syrias chemical weapons. Providing this framework is fully implemented, it can end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian People, but also, to their neighbors, to the region, and because of the threat of proliferation, this framework can provide greater protection and security to the world. Its an astounding turn of events. Just days ago, the u. S. Was posed to launch air strikes on syria opening a new military front in the middle east and now look where we are. A significant diplomatic accord between two rivals and the possibility of a peaceful solution. From here, it goes to the u. N. Where the General Assembly starts this week and the Security Councils expected to be briefed on monday by the secretarygeneral. All this came together in a scene straight out of a cold war spy novel complete with a poolside meeting and anonymous brunette, although we are told they were drinking coffee, not vodka. As for president obama, well hear from him in an interview tomorrow. Hes been relatively quiet in the geneva talks seeming to abide by the philosophy, speak softly and carry a big stick. Not so for vladimir putin. With the oped this week in New York Times, he wants to be the power player asserting mastery over the situation in syria. But you know, if putin wants to take responsibility for syria, that might just work in the United States advantage. As Andrew Sullivan just wrote, you want it, vladimir, be our guest. For the latest from the white house, im joined by White House Correspondent kristen welker. Thank you for joining me. Thank you, karen. A lot of developments in a short period of time. Whats the latest from the white house . Reporter a lot of moving parts. President obama saying that he welcomes the deal that was reached earlier today by secretary kerry and the russian counterpart. It is an ambitious time line that they have mapped out for this deal. It requires assad to provide an accounting of his chemical weapons stockpile in a week. And calls for the total destruction of all of assads weapons by the middle of next year. Heres a little bit of what president obama had to say. He said, quote, while we have made important progress, much more work remains to be done. The United States will continue working with russia, the united kingdom, france, the United Nations and others to ensure that this process is verifiable and that there are consequences should the assad regime not comply with the framework agreed today. And if diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act. Go ahead, karen. I noticed that, you know, not to be left out of the fun, senator mccain and senator Lindsey Graham put out a statement, as well, already critiquing this agreement. Reporter right. Well, just to give some context to their criticism, which ill read in just one minute, the United States essentially did give a concession to russia which is that they are acknowledging that a u. N. Agreement does not need to include a use of force trigger. As a consequence, if assad doesnt act. You heard those comments by president obama essentially saying that he can act unilaterally. However, mccain and graham say, quote, without a u. N. Security Council Resolution under chapter 7 authority which threatens the use of force for noncompliance, this Framework Agreement is meaningless and does nothing to resolve the problem in syria, the underlying conflict that killed 110,000 people. Driven millions from their homes. Destabilize our friends and allies in the region. Emboldened iran and the terrorist proxies. Theyre some of the hawkish members of the Republican Party and expect for them to say. Nonetheless, look, this is a step in what will undoubtedly be a long process. That is for sure. I have been talking to experts in this area saying, look, the real work is the inspectors to go in and remove the chemical weapons. That is a difficult task in any environment. But remember, this will have to take place in the middle of a civil war so thats going to really complicate things and the administration has made it very clear that they expect assad to adhere to this ambitious time line mapped out. Karen . We shall see how it shakes out. Thank you. Reporter indeed. Thank you. For reaction from the hill with me now, democratic congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and rob whitman. Thank you both for joining me. Id lick to start, congressman whitman, with you and get your reaction to the days developments. Im glad the diplomatic efforts resulted in an agreement and highly skeptical of the agreement. I think there are lots of things there that cause me pause. I think its tremendous, tremendously difficult effort to identify, to control and then dispose of all of these chemical weapons in a country with a civil war going on. We havent defined the sites to be looked at or inspected and what would happen if it doesnt come about. Will assad let them happen . Its extraordinarily difficult and then theres a timeline, a deadline of the middle of 2014. I want things to diplomatically and im highly skeptical because of the thing that is are a severe challenge. Youre skeptical but are you optimistic . You did vote against authorizing the you have been against the use of force by the president so this is a good first step, no . It is. Absolutely. Diplomatic efforts are where we need to be and make sure theyre verifiable and put the pressure on all the parties involved, specifically syria to make sure it gets done and not in favor of a military effort here. Im hopeful it works and i know that we have to put tremendous amount of focus and pressure to make sure it gets done and verifiable and assure that none of these chemical weapons are under the control either of Bashar Al Assad or the rebels in the area, too. Thats a concern that they might fall in their hands or forces that are completely friendly to the assad regime. Congresswoman . I would like to say with almost everything my colleague said, i would agree. He voices a real concern, a real concern many lawmakers and colleagues will have on capitol hill. I am ecstatic that the United States wants to be just not a leader in war, but a leader in diplomacy. And so i i and i believe many of my colleagues and i hope my colleague you heard from will work hard to put pressure on, to continue to assure that syria and assad do eliminate these weapons. Its a very big task. And i would also say to mr. Putin, we need your help. You want to be at the top of your game. You want to be recognized by the world. You will get that recognition if you help us to do this and this is a very important step for all of these countries involved and for the world to get it done correctly. Congressman whitman, the president and the administration have vigorously pursued the diplomatic path and we all would agree its ambitious, complicated. But theyre pursuing it. If for some reason the efforts fail and the president had to come back to you and again ask for the authorization for the use of force, given that the diplomatic efforts have been pursued, would you in that case allow the vote in favor for the president . I would still have reservations about using go ahead, congressman whitman. I would still be opposed to the use of military force. I think if the u. N. Security council and the u. N. Itself cant bring it to fruition and cant verify it happens, i think there are other opportunities out there for us to engage nato and other partners in the world to bring different elements of pressure upon syria to make sure that these weapons get out of circulation and not used against the Syrian People and not in the hands of those folks to use them. I want to make sure to do this and without getting in to a conflict in the middle east. I believe a military action against syria has a potential to turn in to a massive and dirty mission. I dont believe thats where we need to be as a nation and i dont believe its in the best strategic interest. Congresswoman sanchez, obviously putin has taken quite a role here. We know that this is not that russia doesnt have theyre not just doing out of the goodness of their hearts despite what you might have read in the oped. I mean, russia has very specific interests with regard to syria in terms of their naval installation, in terms of this being a key military alliance. They see it as a key point of leverage. I mean, this is a to some degree, this is kind of remnants of the cold war era. So i mean, it seems to me that, you know, to some degree we do have to be cautious with regard to russia, particularly when we talk about going back to the u. N. Security Council Given that we know that the russiaens have been the ones all along threatening to block many efforts to this point. Well, again, i do a lot of work because of the military committee that i sit on. A lot of work with russia. There are so many treaties, so many other issues, nonprolive nation, nuclear war, et cetera that we work on together. Sometimes its very difficult in whatever time period that were trying to get that done but we have had successes like with the new start treaty, et cetera. So im not willing to say that, you know, because we have had our differences in the past somehow putin mr. Putin cannot get this done. This is a big thing to get done. And he will have to put his should tore the wheel and help us to get this done. Theres no doubt and i think that the world is watching to see if, in fact, he can do that. That he should have other breasts in syria, well thats just happens to be the case and the facts. But without trying, at least, to eliminate these weapons, which is the criteria that the president said, the thing he said is that these weapons are dangerous, that theyre used nondiscriminately and so we have to go after these weapons if this is the best way that we can, we can do it without firing a missile, i think thats a good thing. Well, we shall see with regard to mr. Putin, as Andrew Sullivan wrote recently, he owns this process. Lets let him have it. Thank you, congresswoman and congressman. Thank you, karen. Thank you. Next, how will the framework agreed upon today actually work . Thats coming up next. If the u. N. Cannot look at this and say, you know what . When youre gassing people in your own suburbs right. And we still dont vote to go in, what is the point of that big building in new york . Why dont we just turn that in to a disco . Because you know ho ho ho [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. Some are giant. Some not so giant. When managing your weight, bigger is always better. Ho ho ho green giant Car InsuranceCompanies Say theyll save you by switching, youd have, like, a ton of dollars. But how are they saving you those dollars . A lot of Companies Might answer um or no comment. Then theres esurance. Born online, raised by technology and majors in efficiency. So whatever they save, you save. Hassle, time, paperwork, hairtearing out, and, yes, especially dollars. Esurance. Insurance for the modern world. Now backed by allstate. Click or call. On the heels of the breakthrough deal, secretary kerry heads to jerusalem and paris tomorrow to discuss the plan. Its a whirlwind diplomatic tour with officials from france, the uk and saudi arabia. There may be a framework in place for the elimination of syrias chemical weapons but this is all about the details. What assad has, whos going to go in and get it and how you actually pull that off in the midst of an ongoing civil war. The framework lays out an aggressive time line of one week to declare the full extent of the equipment and stockpile. Inspectors have a month to survey and take Production Equipment out of commission and the entirety of syrias weapons material is set to be deploy stroied in the first half of 2014. Administration officials tell nbc news these are just targets, not hard deadlines but it still begs the question, how will they get it all done . Meantime, the use of force is not off the table. So, president obama could still go to the u. N. Security council or take action on his own if the process breaks down. With me now, andrew basivic, author of breach of trust how americans failed their soldiers and their country. And joe cencioni. Thanks to you both for joining me. Thank you. My pleasure. I want to talk about how this process would work because i understand its not konl complicated bah lengthy process and a very difficult time consuming one, not to mention where these folks would be willing asked to do this in the midst of a civil war. Karen, this is a huge step forward. Lots of president s have wanted to take away assads chemical weapons. There are obstacles heading in the path of this, of this final achievement. You have to get the inspectors in to syria, in a civil war. You will have to negotiate, no fire zones with the government and with the rebels. And then you have got to secure all of these weapons which have been scattered in to dozens of different sites. You would like to bring them back in to several central locations and then decide whether you destroy them on site which is what we usually do with chemical weapons and what the u. S. And russia have been doing for two decades or do you want to move them out of the country . There was some talk of that in the announcement of the agreement. And all of this is going to take time and require international cooperation. The good news is that we have International Organizations that have been set up to do exactly this kind of work and we can make use of them and then its not a u. S. Effort. We are not paying for it. Well not firing any bullets. We are not spending any money. There wont be any u. S. Boots on the ground. To that point, professor, you know, the pentagon report that it would take approximately 75,000 troops to seize syrias chemical weapons, is it realistic, again, this is in the middle of a civil war and realistic of no boots on the ground or no need for boots on the ground . Theres going to have to be people on the ground to secure the weapons and to account for them and to begin the process of moving them but it doesnt follow they have to be american boots on the ground. I would add another point and you have done a great job of summarizing some of the complexities but theres an additional one. Success assume that is the Syrian Government is going to cooperate in this. I mean, as i understand it, the agreements such as it is is an agreement between russia and the United States. Well guess what. Syria is not a russian puppet. Assad has his own interests. And one could argue that his willingness to actually implement the agreement is going to stem from the agreement somehow serving his purposes and his ultimate purpose, of course, is to stay in power. I dont think we can assume the syrians cooperate. I agree but the question i would put back to you is, at the same time, we know theres a little bit of a symbiotic relationship of russia and syria. I believe that part of the reason that putin, you know, took this in addition to the threat of force, that he took this step because we have noticed that its not about assad stepping down, so they do have some common interest there and assume that is they might Work Together in concert. I mean, putin has now made himself a leading candidate to win the nobel peace prize. Over the last three or four days, his status has a global statesman has gone through the roof. And he would like, i imagine, to sustain that. And therefore, he has a stake in ensuring that the agreement works. Assad knows that putin has a stake and therefore that puts assad in a position to do some horse trading. Im not trying to say it aint going to work. Im skeptical and wont work absent the assad regime cooperating. You know, joe, to that point, i mean and to the point of the complexity, just we took a look at our own United States disarmament and we know that in the United States we have 3,000 tons of chemical weapons remaining. The original deadline was 2007. And the expected completion was 2023. So, you know, as the professor points out, from a diplomatic front, there is a lot of trust that has to be put on the table. But again, the actual work of disarming these weapons is very time consuming. Yes. It is. We have been destroying the 30,000 tons of chemical weapons we built in the cold war and the russians destroying the 40,000 tons that they built during the cold war and we have been doing that for almost 20 years now. Its difficult, tricky work but we have other comparisons. India and south korea both declared arsenals about the size of syrias. It took them two to four years to destroy their weapons. We have a lot of International Expertise that knows how to do this. Teams of International Experts who have helped eliminate Nuclear Weapons in over 15 different countries. You can do it here as long as the Syrian Government is cooperating and cant force the government to do it. They have to cooperate and that is why assad actually has is so necessary to this process. He sees this as a lifeline. As long as hes giving up the chemical weapons, hes holding off a u. S. Attack. Thats why hes doing it. But thats how you get agreements. When youre Strategic Interests overlap n. This case, russia, syria and the u. S. Have Strategic Interests in parallel here and leading to getting rid of those weapons that could kill millions of people. Professor, one of the things about this deal, obviously, is that it doesnt necessarily address the underlying civil war, the underlying problems in the region. I know thats something you have written about and i want to wrote from something you wrote. From the rae reagan era on, u. S. Forces covert operationives engage in hostile actions. Not to mention iraq and afghanistan. Consider them altogether what you have is a war for the grater middle east. Professor, to this point, yes, we will take out the weapons, these chemical weapons. Assad at this point is in place and doesnt seem that we have made progress on not only solving the underlying civil war but as we have been talking about over the last weeks, in many ways sir whys a proxy war for the broader middle east. Yes. I mean, in that regard, even if this deal works out, its far too soon to spike the football. As joe mentioned, the civil war continues. The civil war really is the principle reason why we see syria as a crisis. My larger argument is that we ought not to overstate the importance of that crisis, to some degree, the real question that the United States should be asking itself is whether opening up a new front in this war makes any sense because if you look at the history, the history of u. S. Military involvement going back to the 1980s when Ronald Reagan sent marines in to beirut, we have not made the region more stable, we have not made the region more diplomatic or the people in that part of the world love america. On the contrary, its the opposite and the real question to me is whether a militarized approach makes any sense. My answer, it doesnt. Joe, i will let you have a Quick Reaction and then we have to go. I think andrew is right and thats why you heard the spokes people talk about this as a first step to lead to other negotiations that could actually stop the slaughter in syria. I think that is also why the American People were so reluctant to get involved. Thank you to andrew and joe. And also thank you, sir, for your service to our country. Thank you. When we come back, the real reason senator cruz wants 100 more like jesse helms. We need 100 more like jesse helms in the u. S. Senate. Oh my god. Oh my god. 100 more cray sys like jes sehelms. Senator, 100 of them, theres not a senator cruz. Only 100 senators. Ready to run your lines . Okay, who helps you focus on your recovery . Yo, yo, yo. Aflac. Wow. [ under his breath ] that was horrible. Pays you cash when youre sick or hurt . [ japanese accent ] aflac. Love it. [ under his breath ] hate it. Helps you focus on getting back to normal . [ as a Southern Belle ] aflac. [ as a cowboy ] aflac. [ sassily ] aflac. Uh huh. [ under his breath ] i am so fired. Youre on in 5, duck. [ male announcer ] when youre sick or hurt, aflac pays you cash. Find out more at aflac. Com. With my united mileageplus explorer card. Ive saved 75 in checked bag fees. [ delavane ] priority boarding is really important to us. You can just get on the plane and relax. [ julian ] having a card that doesnt charge you foreign transaction fees saves me a ton of money. [ delavane ] we can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u. S. When i spend money on this card, i can see brazil in my future. [ anthony ] i use the explorer card to earn miles in order to go visit my family, which means a lot to me. Ron im sorry, who are you . Jc im your coworker cmon guys, im driving. Jc you guys comfortable . Its bestinclass rear legroom. Jim do you work for volkswagen . Jc what . No. I work for. The company we all work for. The place we just left. You know j. D. Power ranked passat the most appealing midsize car two years in a row . I bet uh dan here wishes someone found him most appealing two years in a row. Ron its ron. Jc ron. Exactly. You might have done a double take when rising republican star texas senator ted cruz made these statements at the Heritage Foundation. The willingness to say all those crazy things is a rare, rare characteristic in this town. And you know what . Its every bit as true now as it was then. We need 100 more like jesse helms in the u. S. Senate. Yes. You may recall the late North Carolina senator jesse helms, opposed civil rights and supported all forms of bigotry or as david broader called him, the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country. But if you look at voting record, it is clearer why mr. Cruz might be so enamored. Helms opposed affirmative action, samesex marriage, backgrou checks for gun sales, food stamps and tax cuts for working families. He voted for the war in iraq. Against strikes in kosovo. He supported loosening license and background checks at gun controls, abstinence only sex education. Meals on wheels, School Lunches and social security. And like senator helms, senator cruz supports changes to sproeter protections and section v of the Voting Rights act. You know what . Jesse helms is more than a smallminded eed bigot but he Big Government zealot and holds sway over the party faithful. I guess he is sorely missed. Ahead, john boehner has lost control again. As he again tries to regroup the cuckoo caucus sets up the game. Thats next. Theres all this speculation about these deadline that is are coming up. Im well aware of the deadlines. So are my colleagues. So were working with our colleagues to work our way through these issues. I do feel sorry for him. I mean, he he he has to break away from those people that are ruining the Republican Party. [ male announcer ] when it comes to doing what you love, more is better. Thats why we designed the allnew nissan versa note, with more technology, to get you into, and out of, tight spots. And more space so that you always have your favorite stuff. And just for good measure, an incredibly efficient 40 mpg highway. So that when youre doing more, youre spending less. The allnew nissan versa note. Your door to more. So you want to drive more safely . Of smart. Stop eating. Take deep breaths. Avoid bad weather. [ whispers ] get eight hours. [ shouts over music ] turn it down and, of course, talk to farmers. Hi. Hi. We are farmers bum pa dum, bum bum bum bum to roll out a perfectly flaky crust thats made from scratch. Or mix vegetables with all white meat chicken and homemade gravy. But Marie Callenders does. Just sit down and savor. Marie callenders. Its time to savor. Just sit down and savor. This man is about to be the millionth customer. Would you mind if i go ahead of you . Instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. Congratulations you are our one millionth customer. Nobody likes to miss out. Thats why ally treats all their customers the same. Whether youre the first or the millionth. If your bank doesnt think youre special anymore, you need an ally. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Take a look at this headline from the atlantic wire. Quote, John Boehners negotiations are going worse than john kerrys. Harsh. But kind of true. After a month, dominated by headlines focused on syria, will we strike, should we strike, what other options exist, secretary kerry and his russian counterpart have shown us a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. But poor Speaker Boehner. His woes are just Getting Started as Congressional Republicans get back to more important business matters. Obama care. Obama care. Obama care. The atrocity of obama care. Obama care is not controversial. It is universally despised. How about we defund the whole damn thing . You dont hear the president mention benghazi. Now its a phony scandal. The American People deserve answers. We must have a select committee. Somebody in the white house is lying. Thats right. With only four legislative days before the government runs out of money and then hitting the debt ceiling, the main issues topping the gop agenda are to defund obama care and reopen benghazigate. Ah, with me now to discuss the Washington Post political reporter jackie cusinich and jamal simmons. Thanks to you both. Jackie, i want to start with you because reading some of these stories, you have to wonder who is actually in charge. I mean, here you had there was a continuing resolution to try to vote on this week. And then, there was a sort of grim mick that boehner thought he could try to get the house to vote, get it over to the senate, make it so the senate didnt have to defund obama care and he got called out for it. They had to pull the continuing resolution. Whens in charge . Its been a mess. And you know, the midst of that, you had the Senate Conservative fund, a group that jim demint started and now no longer affiliated with, calling the members and opposing the resolution you were just talking about. There are outside pressures coming in and, you know, these people dont want to be primaried and seeing a lot of that at play and Republican Leaders dont have anything to offer them anymore. Theres no earmarks and dont care about Committee Assignments and trying to figure out what to do at this point. This gimmick, we saw Speaker Boehner do this with a second version of the violence against women act and introduce something that the members could vote on and not the real violence against women act and worked and made everybody happy n. This instance, the fact he had to pull the cr and even got called out by his own party for suggesting to me he is definitely losing power within his own caucus. I mean, we have seen this with a couple debates where he had issues with some of the conservatives in the caucus and more of them and even in addition to the conservatives, we have the people that are playing the lawn game and dont want to be primaried and dont have the tools to force the people to vote and well see it and will be here very late on september 30th as an as a result. Jamal, you wrote this week about the ongoing conversations of syria and taking a different position. I mean, it was astounding to see, i think, and actually very, you know, made me feel good to see members of congress attending briefings and, you know, paying attention to the materials that they were given and actually asking good questions and having a real debate. The point that you made, im just going to read this from an article you wrote this week. The white house should engage on domestic issues the way they did on syria and negotiations with the house gop may be even more difficult than russia and syria. Jamal, talk a little about what you meant in that. Well, i think where we are right now in the country is that as you guys have been talking about with jackie, theres so much that has to be done here and coming up now, we have immigration coming up. We have got the debt ceiling coming up. Budget negotiations to be dealt with. But the same time, we have still got folks out there trying to get jobs. Theres a great story in the New York Times last week or ten days ago and it had a tragic kind of anecdote of this white mechanic in tennessee out shooting deer and skirls to feed his family because the food stamp that is he gets arent enough to make it work. The president and the Congress Need to be focused a little bit more on these kinds of situations of people in this situation and, and use the kind of shock and awe that we saw as they talked about syria to talk about the economic strait that is people are in. Are you saying you want to see more engagement for the from the white house . It seemed like theres a critique on the white house coming throughout. Absolutely. I think, you know, the president and the white house, you know, ive been a supporter of the president since he ran in the primaries and the president and the white house has got to do a better job of marshalling the forces. Send the cabinet out. Bring in experts v. The president do the prime time address. If the Congress Votes down bills, keep sending them. The republicans voted down 40 times to defund obama care. 41, actually. Right now its number 40. Not until i dont want that 41st vote to go unmentioned. Lets see more of that. Like, lets embarrass the congress and get them make them have to answer for the fact they dont want to focus on whats going on in the country. Jackie, to that point, one of the things we heard time and time again from members in the syria conflict, theyre listening to the constituents, the phone calls and the emails and the town Hall Meetings but if you look, for example, at obama care, right, where their agenda is all about defunding or, you know, delaying obama care, the polls generally show a relative amount of support for obama care and a greater number of people who dont want to see obama care defunded. Right . They want to see how it works, they want it to have the funding and not necessarily repealed. So, why to this point that jamals making, why cant we put more pressure on conservatives to say, hey, if youre really listening to what your constituents are saying, heres what theyre saying and it is not the same thing you are saying. Well, its fortunate point out, there are some polls that say exactly what you said but the law is still very unpopular. It still is when you look at a summary of polls, it is still in the 40s and people dont approve of it. The majority dont approve of it. While they dont want to see it go away, they dont approve of it. I think theyre looking at the numbers saying whats going on here . And you know, republicans are taking advantage of that. Particularly looking at the age groups, younger people like the bill or, im sorry, the law. And older people dont. And so, the people that vote are still the older people. Actually, true, but younger people are voting in larger numbers and they have been a big part of the focus. Youre right. A lot of them are older people. Right. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next, strippers and labor rights. Four of our favorite headlines you might have missed this week. We were nothing 236 years ago. Today, we are strong. Maybe some day, egypt, youll be Strong Enough to build something lasting. Maybe. Clients are always learning more to make their money do more. ann to help me plan my next move, i take scottrades free, inbranch seminars. Plus, their live webinars. I use daily market commentary to improve my strategy. And my local scottrade Office Guides my learning every step of the way. Because they know i dont trade like everybody. I trade like me. Im with scottrade. announcer scottrade. Ranked highest in Customer Loyalty for brokerage and investment companies. [ male announcer ] 1. 21 gigawatts. Today, thats easy. Ge is revolutionizing power. Supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software. Using data predictively to help power entire cities. So the turbines of today. Will power us all. Into the future. How can i be a more fun mom . Hmmm. Can you dance . Bum ba bum ba bum bum ba bum ba bum no. No . Can you make campbells chicken noodle soup . Yes [ wisest kid ] every can has 32 feet of slurpable noodles. Now thats fun. Mom, youre awesome. Oh yeah bum ba bum ba bum [ gong ] [ wisest kid ] mm mm good and now, theres a plan that lets you experience that new phone thrill again and again. And again. Can you close your new phone box . Were picking up some feedback. Introducing verizon edge. The plan that lets you upgrade to a new verizon 4glte phone when you want to. Having what you want on the network you rely on. Thats powerful. Verizon. Upgrade to the new droid ultra by motorola with zero down payment. Now to fyi. The news nuggets that may have passed you by this week. First, americas top statesman john kerry is working hard to find a solution in syria. But as for americas other interests, when you think of deten detente, the names that dont come to mind probably isnt bachmann or rodman. Rodman is trying to recruit bigname athletes to join him and convinced that he is the one to help the u. S. And north korea improve their relationship. Hmm. In egypt, former president ial candidate Michele Bachmann joined colleagues this week for what one analysts likened to a saturday night live skit. In a press conference, not only thank the military there for cracking down on protesters, you know, which is resulted in bloody violence across cairo, she suggested the Muslim Brotherhood for responsible september 11th attacks. Jon stewart could not help himself. My name is michele batch mcb. Im a United States congressman from the United States of america. Only said one sentence and this is the weirdest [ bleep ] thing on television. With the debate over american exceptionali exceptionalism, im sure no one thinking bachmann. Researchers from Boston University have found a robust relationship between states with high rates of gun ownership and states with high rates of gun homicide. How about that . Its a nice study. You may want to read it, mr. La pierre. There was a victory for strippers. Ricks cabaret tried to hirecon. After a classaction lawsuit, a judge ruled almost 2,000 can seek back wages. You see, theyre covered by labor laws. Speaking of the big apple, times square is home of broadway, the famous new years eve ball drop and apparently obama care haters. We caught sight of this sign saying obama care may be hazardous to your health and you can thank jim demint and the Heritage Foundation for that. But were not sure its going to convince anyone. Next, what one canceled fighter jet tells us about the growing disparity of wealth in america. While the richest 1 take home almost a quarter of the National Income today, in 1976, they took home only 9 . Meaning their share of income has nearly tripled in the last 30 years. Is really made of cheese . [ crisp crunches ] whoohoohoo guess it was. [ male announcer ] pringles, bursting with more flavor. This week, we saw further evidence, if we needed it, that things are going very well for the rich. But not for almost anyone else. The dow jones closed well over 15,000 points on friday. Yet, in a new poll, only 27 believe the economy will get better in the next 12 months. Thats a new low for the year. Maybe its because so much of that bull market money is going to a few people. More than 19 of Household Income in america last year went to the richest 1 . Thats the biggest share since the 1920s. We are marking the fiveyear anniversary of the market crash and president obama will address on monday. In the first three years after that crash, 95 of the income gains flowed to the top earners. Their income increased nearly a third. For everyone else, the needle barely moved. In fact, 1 seemed to have captured more than two thirds of all Income Growth in the last two decades. Longterm trend or not, the president is taking the hit for it. President obamas approval numbers are down. And most people think republicans would do a better job than democrats on the economy. I suspect that opinion will change as people learn about the gops plans. Joining me now is jared bernstein. Jared, thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for inviting me. So, you know, jared you have been talking about this quite a bit this week and it used to be that really everybody kind of shared in the pain, like when you think about the iraq war, when you think about world war ii, everybody kind of shared in the pain of that war. And now, you see, you know, the rich getting richer. The middle class and lowincome people really taking the hit. I think you raise an important point because folks may not realize because the statistics go a long ways back, you said something about 20 of the National Income accrued to the top 1 . Going back 30 years, it was half of that and if i donyou look at income gains were distributed, say mid40s to mid70s, just about every income group doubled and not just that folks were getting ahead but very similar rates across the income scale and, of course, thats very different today. So, the republican plans aside from cutting all kinds of great programs that help people succeed, the republican plan seems to be as voiced by senator inhoff, i have a sound from him to play in a moment, it seems more spending for the military, but dont raise those taxes on anybody. Here, lets take a listen. The president has so degraded the military and the budget, the first year, you remember that. That was when he did away with the fifth generation fighter, the lift capacity, the c17, future combat system. So, you know, inhofe is talking about a system that in terms of defense spending, you know, from 1997 to 2013, it goes up. And we know that the specific fifth generation fighter that he is talking about, the f35, replaced the f22 which is what obama canceled, meaning senator inhofe was a little off on the facts but more importantly, with all of this talk with increases of defense spending as you have toelgd told me, they wont raise taxes on the wealthy so that money has to come from programs. Correct. If you actually kind of pull back and look at the republican economic plan, generally speaking, this goes back to not just mitt romney and paul ryan and the campaign but to Ronald Reagan, what im going to say sounds a little glib but i think its actually true. If you looked at the plan, you would conclude that rich people dont have enough money and poor people have too much. The idea is that we need to cut anything that helps lowincome people because its somehow keeping them from participating in the economy or whatever. And at the same time, this is the trickle down supply side part. Cut income taxes very sharply for those at the top. And youre exactly right. You very quickly run in to the buzzsaw. If you try to maintain those ideas in your head, where at the aim time you want to increase defense spending but take taxes off the table, in fact, lower taxes for those at the very top, the only place to go is on programs that everybody else depends on and thats what the budget does. Its robin hood in reverse big time. And as the president has been talking about, we need more investments so that we dont have robin hood in reverse. Thank you, jared. Thank you. That does it for me. Thanks so much for joining us. Please dont forget to share your thoughts, find us on facebook and tweet us. Clay. Mom . Come in here. Come in where . Welcome to my mom cave. Wow. Sit down. You need some campbells chunky soup before todays big game, new chunky cheeseburger. Mmm. I love cheeseburgers. I know you do. When did you get this place . 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