today? >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. scandal, scandal. it was the so-called scandal week, filled with scandal everywhere. the obama administration is in trouble. it's bs and i'll tell you why. all these stories with, this is all red meat for republicans. the righties are drooling everywhere. you know how you throw on a case of mer low and a carton of campbell camel to john boehner. >> nothing dissolves the bonds of people and their government like the arrogance of power in washington. these what the american people are seeing today from the obama administration, remarkable arrogance. >> arrogance. let's play a word game. a heck of a word. republicans going to be talking about these scandals for month to come maybe even years because they really want to tarnish obama. let me tell you what the real scandal that's going on in washington right now. republicans in congress voted to reveal obama care for the 38th time. they did that on thursday as advertised and the vote didn't go down without a big show. >> we see this coming just like the titanic, we see the iceberg only it's not just in a midst. shortly in front of our eyes. we have time to turn back. so why not reveal that bill today. i wanted to bring that tower of red tape here to the floor. it is seven feet tall and growing. it was too big to be allowed on the house floor. >> truly the devil is in the details. >> this is my shocked face. >> increases costs, less access, lower quality, less innovation, limiting your choices. mad dam speaker, that's a life threatening and diagnosis. >> must be ripped out by the roots and completely resealed and i yelled back the balance of my time. >> you know the word we don't use enough? lie. lie, lie, lie, lie. the republican majority in the house is taking this whole do nothing label, this phrase to an entirely new level. will eats go to the numbers. out of the first 138 days so far this year boehner's house has been in session for only 51 days. in one of those precious days was wasted trying to take away your hoelt care, which of course will kick in on january 1st, 2014. they want to stop obama care. they voted 38 times. it's estimated since republicans took control of the house in 2011 they have spent basically 15% of their time attempting to repeal significant legislation that affects millions of americans. if you listen to john boehner he's trying to convince the american people that he really cares about jobs. >> these are the thousands and thousands of pages of obama care regulations. and if we want jobs, reneed to get rid of this because this is getting in the way of employers hiring workers around the country. >> job is our primary focus. >> no it's not. so far this year there has not been one vote in the house on a jobs bill. the republican master plan for job creation basically is taking away health care from 30 million americaning. meanwhile there's another major health care story that grabbed the headlines this week. after undergoing genetic testing jolie learned he has an 08% chance of developing breast cancer and with those odds the star actress opted to have a double mastectomy in february and at this time it's still unclear whether angelina jolie will have her ovaries removed. she's a brave woman but she is also very lucky. she had the means to undergo testing and take care of the problem before it came just too serious and life threatening. but you know not every american has that kind of luck. under obama care they would. many americans are in desperate need of health insurance. it's literally a matter of life and death. let me say that again. it is literally a matter of life and death. now last week on our first ed show in this time slot i asked for a volunteer with cancer and no health insurance to come forward and share your experience with the audience. let's hear the other side of the story. the next story is a perfect exam. of why republicans should leave obama care alone. dan see cois a 26-year-old freelance sports writer. this young man has played by the rules his entire life. he worked shard, studied hard, went to graduate school and is pursuing a career as a 0 freelance sports journalist. soonz he turned 26 years old he lost his health care. you can't go around the corner and buy any kind of private health insurance plan you want. then after losing his health care at the age of 26, just a few months after that through no fault of his own he was diagnosed with nonhod kins limb to ma. where is dan? he's facing the monumental task of figuring out how he's going to pay for his cancer treatment so he can have a chance at long life. dan wanted to be here tonight but he is in a medical center undergoing chemo therapy. we offered to do a tape and interview in his hospital room but the drrss doctors were concerned for his health so that didn't happen. dan felt it was so important to tell his story he called my radio show by design on friday. >> what is your situation. >> i'm actually currently in the hospital right now. i'm undergoing chemo therapy treatments. i'm about halfway through with my current regime and i don't have any health insurance. >> when you say you don't have any health insurance is this the way it's been, you know, your whole life or recently or what? >> no. i grew up middle class. i had health insurance up until my 26th birthday which was last august. i was working for a travel company and i wanted to pursue my writing career full time and i, you know, took a little bit of a risk by, you know, not having health insurance. but i didn't have any options really as a writer. right now i'm currently applying for medicaid and relying on charities here and the good-natured spirit of other people to elhelp me out. i don't have many options. >> he's not alone. dan's story is like millions of other americans. 30 million people are waiting for obama care. >> would obama care help you? >> yes, absolutely. i think i'm pretty much the model case for why obama care needs to pass, you know, what it can do to help people in my situation through, you know pursuing what they want to do with their life. and, you know, they need the care that they can't afford to pay out of pocket, pet scans that shows how much cancer you have in your body, $14,000. who has the money to pay for that. >> i went on to ask dan about republicans repeeling obama care for the 38th time. how dufl when you see congress trying to repeal obama care? >> it's very difficult to try to comprehend. i understand lawmakers have their own agendas, but, you know, you don't know -- if you don't know someone who is in this type of situation that i'm in and there's millions of other people like me, i mean it's just, i can't comprehend it. can't understand why one would work you know against this type of policy which is really going to make the lives of so many people so much easier. >> yeah. why? why would republicans do this? what kind of a person would vote to deny, vote to take away an opportunity of another american to save his or her life? you see, it's all about the preexisting condition because dan is not going to be able to get health care insurance if they were to repeal obama care. do the republicans care? republicans don't care if obama care saves lives. for them it's all about power. >> what would you like the lawmakers to know? >> you know, i had health care my entire life. i was fortunate. but, i mean, i went to graduate school to be a journalist, that's what i want to pursue and health insurance isn't always available for freelance writers. i want a chance to be healthy and not in millions of dollars of debt. i think for the long term health of the country this needs to go if. like you asked me before, i don't know when the charity is going to run out. i can't rely on that. i need solution for the long term. who knows what happens a year later, two years later further down the road. the bottom line is i need health insurance. >> he needs health insurance and for 38 times in the congress, in the house with tp republicans have said no we don't want you to have it. we think there's too many thousands of pages and too much red tape out there for you to have a chance, dan, to save your life. i can't thank this gentleman enough for coming forward and talking to us. we asked for an example of someone who wanted to be brave enough to share their story. all we hear about is how bad obama care is. they want a negative story out there. every time they bring up something that's negative about obama care, i want all of you viewer to know that i will do something on this program that talks about what the real obama care is going to do for americans. it's going to save lives. do we care about that? since when did we quit caring about our fellow american? well when the republicans got in power. what's the difference between leaving a warrior out on the battlefield or someone in a hospital room not knowing what the future is because they can't pay for the health care bill that they're going to be getting? what are the medical institutions supposed to do? the politics of this is very, very cruel and it's wrong. and there is a moral component to this. you know what's interesting? all week long we've been hearing about how the tea party has ju been screwed by the irs and we just cant believe that the tea party has been targeted. i wish the republicans would care about sick americans as much as they do about the damn tea party and what they're doing with their money where they don't identify where the donors are coming from. you see, we're better than this as a country and barack obama, the president of the united states is making a very big mistake by not talking about this and telling dan's story himself day in and day out. democrats you cannot run from this. this is good for america. it is a great step forward to fete us to universal health care some day and have the same kind of plan those in congress who are voting against it, other americans can have as well. the politics are ugly and cruel but it's the moral component -- i think when you look at michele bachmann how she has done this, it's so unlike minnesota, it's so unlike the middle of the country, it's so unlike turning to your next door neighbor and saying i'm going to vote to deny you to opportunity to have health insurance. why are the progressives in this country the liberals afraid to talk about this every single day as if it's some kind of a cancer legislation out there that's going to troy the demeanor ik party. this is who we are. this is the fabric of america. we tear care about one another. we had a president come forward who staked his whole presidency on this, we got something done. what do the republicans want to do? they want to get rid of it. have they offered another plan? no, they haven't. when there's an illness in your family it changes how you view things. dan's family was really never the same after their father died at the age of 45 because of cancer. and for more on dan's story i want to bring in his brother kyle who is here tonight in studio in new york. god bless you. >> thank you. >> how hord r hard has this been to see your brother go through this. >> it's been tough. when we first found out, just complete shock as you just said. we lost my father at the young age. was only 14 years old. dan is 26. you don't expect 26-year-old's to get diagnosed with cancer. his back was hurting him for a while, he didn't have insurance, he didn't want to pay to see what was going on with his back. it finally got to the point where my mom said dan, i don't care how much it cost we're going to take you to the doctor doctor. >> so he had all of the pains, he didn't have insurance, he didn't go to doctor, he finally goes and he find out he has limb foe ma. >> correct. >> just 26-year-old healthy guy, didn't have insurance, just the bad luck of the draw? >> exactly. >> you have set up a fund to try to help pay for this. tell us about this because the politics of this are very cruel. this is the republican plan, get charity. tell us about it. >> i got the idea from a friend who was running a half marathon to raise money for one of his friends who had cancer. i saw his overwhelming response. i was at the hospital a few days after dan got diagnosed and i created a website on give gord.com. people kept sending it out to people they knew and as of today we've raised almost $40,000 which is shocking has that so many people care. >> that's a drop in the bucket. >> it sound like a lot of money but as dan said on the radio show, $14,000 is one pet scan. i think we figured out out. one night in the hospital costs $8,000. >> so they're not going to repeal obama care so on january 1st your brother is not going to be denied the opportunity to get insurance which is a total game changer in his care isn't it. >> definitely. right now he still has no insurance. my mom is doing her best to get him covered under medicaid but that takes forever. we have no idea how much this is going to cost in the long run. >> thanks for doing what you're doing, keep up the fight. god bless you. we will have dan on this program. he is going through some pretty brutal chemo therapy right now. it's hard for me to tell the story folks but let me ask you a question. whose side are you on? are you with the republicans or are you with the family that got unluc unlucky? ask yourself the question, is this the america you want to live in. the fact of the matter is we can do better than this and the republicans don't want us to. we'll be back with more on "the ed show" after this. devry university,at neet we're offering $4 million dollars in tech scholarships for qualified new students. learn more at devry.edu. for qualified new students. we believe it can be the most valuable real estate on earth. ♪ that's why we designed our newest subaru from the back seat forward. introducing the all-new, completely restyled subaru forester. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. here at "the ed show" we want to know what you think. and every week pfr you tune into this program we check out facebook, twitter and our blog. so now you decided and we are reporting. here are the week's tom trenders voted on by you. >> we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy. >> our number three trender, selling the jobs bill to the gop clouns. >> 113 congress, 133 days, and we haven't had a single joet on a jobs bill. >> this week the president takes his plan to baltimore on the second leg of his middle class jobs tour. >> that's the truth. that's worth applause, sure. >> here comes america's favorite jackpot game. this is powerball. >> come in as trender two, the numbers game and wednesday's powerball could have made you mitt romney rich. >> when i was a boy i used to think that becoming rich and famous would make me happy. boy was i right. >> in you win the jackpot you could out spend the richest members of congress. a man who once said i'm going to die with more money than good to live with my son. >> yes, mr. ice so, the voice of viper car alarms. topping the trenders chart that week. >> first they tell us the earth is not flat. now they're telling us it's not straight either. >> minnesota moves forwarded on the civil issue of our time. >> the state becomes the 12th in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. >> it has always been the next step ahead of full fulg this country's promise to every american. >> joining me now is actor and national spokesperson for clad wilson crews. gentleman great to have you with us. mike, you first. nobody has fought the minnesota gay marriage more than michele bachmann but this week she only responded with a lame tweet. she says i'm proud to have introduced the original traditional marriage amendment. and i think all minnesota ans who are worked some hard on this issue. which brings me to the question, to do the republicans know they have been defeated on this issue. >> any of them are who are forward looking. certainly republicans who are under the age of 40 get it. the anti-marriage equality camp is really the old ves tajs of a dying par fi who are trying to use this to rile their base but unfar gnatly are turning off the rest of america with the hateful came pain. >> what do you expect. >> well, you know historically it's the role of the courts to protect people's rights and to decide what's just and fair. we hope at the end of june the supreme court will side on -- will rule on the side of fairness an equality and rule in favor of freedom to marry. can i j just answer the question, the last question. >> sure. go ahead. >> i don't want to really papt the republican party in broad strokes. people like mel man an singer has done a great job of having conversations with our republican friends and have really moved the conversation in a way that we've never expected it to, even a few years ago. so you know, we've got leaders like senator portman and mark kirk, you know congress ed sullivan who support the freedom to marry they're being very helpful. >> you tell me you trust the republican movement, the conservative movement in this country to do equal and fair rights for gay americans? >> i trust the republican party to see where the american people are moving and i think we see that 58% of american people are on the side of the freedom to marry. >> what do you think about that. >> i think it's twofold. i think that wilson and of course, are right. we have folks like ken mel man and rob portman who are on the right side. but you'll notice whenever one of these guys come to do the right thing it's always because they have a personal reason. rob portman has a kid who is gay. ken mel man himself comes out and then is for equal rights. when these people before they knew somebody were willing to throw us under the bus. u agree with wilson that's important for our community to work those angles but i also think it's important to recognize that 98% of the hate is coming from the gop. >> it is hate, too. let's be very clear about that. do you think that john roberts, supreme court justice gives a damn about equal rights for americans rchl i think john roberts is a corporatist. i think he is there to rule on a whole lot of tax an corporate issues. i think that's why he was put in. i think maybe he does care, he doesn't care. i don't think he wants to go down in history as anybody who has taken away rights that have been earned from people. he's not that naive. he would not want that to be his legacy. >> what does it say about mid western states like iowa an minnesota really have led on this issue. will the rest of the country and other states catch on. >> well, you know we're already seeing that america is evolve on the issue. but, you know, just in the last couple of weeks we saw rhode island and delaware join the ranks and have the freedom to mary. we're seeing movement in illinois, nevada and this week we saw poles toward a majority in michigan, arizona. the country is really having the conversation. let's not minimalize it's really personal experience and personal stories and the fact that people are talking about the issues that is really leading to the change that we're seeing. >> that's a key point when it come to republicans in the conservative movement. u's not coming from the heart and it's not coming from how they feel other americans should be treated. it's come frlg the politics of it all, that they stand to lose and they stand to lose power if they don't move forward on this issue. mike. >> well, yes, and i think really if you look at the course of thinks history to think that a few years ago how the country has swung so incredibly glit's been amazing. >> it is really amazing. i think you're right. i think that, you know, they're so desperate for power. >> that all they care about. got to run gentlemen. thank you for being on the show. let's find out why republicans are suddenly afraid, they're afraid of talking about the deficit. come on. the numbers are better. we're right back. crest pro-health, i've noticed a huge improvement. 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[ male announcer ] from broadband to web hosting to mobile apps, small business solutions from at&t have the security you need to get you there. call us. we can show you how at&t solutions can help you do what you do... even better. ♪ >> welcome back to "the ed show." we love hearing from your viewers soto night we decided two of your questions will make it to "the ed show." ask ed live. the first question is paul george wants to know does congresswoman michele bachmann know the difference between the truth and a blatant lie? absolutely she does. she's a very educated woman, very smart. ms of the right wingers are accomplished before they get to congress depress. but they have so jaded by they belief system and how they think america should be run they're willing to lie about it and he's the leader of the pack. let's see our next questions comes from larry bell linger. when are progressives going to stop letting ourselves get played by the right wing media. >> that's a great question. 'living in an interesting time politically because it's easy to get disfocused and end up in a whirlwind conversation about the ap story, the irs, there's the a lot of misinformation out there about all three of these stories. and in the resip kl pick upof audio, it goats repeated and people start believing this stuff. i have my opinions but i also have a correct set of facts. i think it's very interesting just in the ap story which was talked about on this network previously we should understand that that was the oversight of a grand jury and a judge who oversaw the subpoenas. just a little fact in there. it's interesting that the republicans were still clammering for making sure we continued with the patriot act but now all of the sudden they're so concerned when it comes to protecting the country because you see the wrong guy is leading the country in their opinion and that would be barack obama. don't get disfocused. the economy drives everything we do in the down country enit's the most important thing for middle class families who are fighting for their life. lots more coming up. welcome back to "the ed show." the reason republicans want us to pay attention to the series of so-called scandals lately is because they don't want to pay any attention to this story. the deficit is slinking on president obama's watch. in fact the deficit is skppted to be 24% smaller than anyone predicted. the republicans should be celebrating this news since they've been so obsessed with cutting the deficit. >> the president and haze party leaders in the senate are refusing to do anything to address the debt crisis. >> the important thing is we have action. we reduce the deficits. >> spending is out of control. >> the tremendous deficits. >> debts out of control. it is kicking the can down the road an frankly we're out of road. >> really? the best part of this story is how progressive policies took the air out of the deficit. that's been going since george w. bush took office. now republican cuts from sequestration and the fiscal cliff deal did not reduce the deficit. they weren't even part of the calculations. here's what did help slink the deficits. tax heights on the wealthy americans an obama care. joining us with the rapid response are my guests. great to have you all with us. mike, why aren't the republicans talking about the deficit anymore? >> well it's bad news. look this is terrible news, ed. the only way to analyze the deficit to look at the ratio. u's called the gdp to debt ratio. obama came in with the 10% to debt to gdp ratio. he has it down to 4%. they sate's going to down to 2%. those are not great talking points for republicans. >> david does the massive deficit debt reduction hurt job growth. >> we would be much better off if we would be spending money. we have all of the infrastructure needs. we can boar ru money and we used up the infrastruck chu. we have to replace things like bridges, roads and dams, why are we delaying down that. >> what is the wiggest political component that the obama team could cap lies on. >> it's fantastic news. after all of the brouhaha from the deficit the everyo'em por rs no clothes. they talk a big game but when it comes down to it they weren't really concerned but that's why they didn't talk about it when it turned out that the deficit was slinking. >> did it make a difference? >> that's how we got to the only -- we've only had four balances budgets -- clinton would argue six -- since 1961. and they were under, who? lpj and bill clinton. >> if you looked at minnesota and climp have done, they've raised taxes on the wealthiest residents, reduced property taxes, raised sales taxes. there is a formula out there. >> it's also how you spend the money. if we spend the money in a way that creates jobs in a way that enkurjs investment, then you're going to have a stronger economy and that's an important element of this. if your whole goal is barack obama is a bad man who doesn't belong in the white house then you're not going to get the focus on a better economy. >> college loans are driving up big profits if r the government. the government is expected to make $50 billion on student loans this year. i's actually more profitable than most fortune 500 businesses. the student loan program will make more than apple and exxon made last year. mike, this is staggering, this templates that has been set up we are going after young kids strapping them with debt and high interest rates to pay for running the country right now. >> well it's the new frontier for wall street in so many ways. anytime you have that much money at stake you're going to find wall street involved through their lobbiests and direct legislation. just about every month we're see some new element of legislation passing through washington that's enabling this to become a bigger problem because it is profitable. what it's setting itself up for is another bubble. that's the real problem. >> what's brown where this picture. >> just to talk about myself personally, i graduate from law school next week. the student loan problem is something that hits very close to home. yay i graduated ie have all of this debt. >> at a high percentage rate. >> it's a bubble that's going to burst down the road. we probably should be focusing on it right now but we won't be because this the washington. >> do you think any republicans would go on board with that. >> why are we loaning banks money at 3% an charging nine times that to students? this makes no sense whatsoever. college was basically free at a public school. we need to invest in the valuable assets that we have, young brains. >> minnesota in the mid '70s was 500 dollars for tuition. >> california was free. >> senator heir ray reid is teasing us again with filibuster reform. the senator majority leader could wait until july to deploy the so called nuclear option. what about this? >> there's no reason to wait. harry looed ed rooid has shown he doesn't are the backbone to accomplish this. it's critical they have to do something. harry reid is not the person to push this. the media has to push this. >> what about getting the house, david? if you do the nuclear option in the senate but you can't get anything done in the house what use good does it do. >> remember, in the last election for the house, the democrats got a million more votes than the republicans but because of gerrymandering, the republicans are in charge. >> should harry reid go the nuclear option. >> i think there is value in going this route because it energizes the base. we're going to have midterm elections very soon. >> can you trust harry to get the job done? >> he doesn't have a good track record. >> i know you don't believe he can get it done. >> i don't. look at the history. we judge people by their history. this man has a very poor history when i comes to getting things down. >> if the republicans retake the senate in 2014 were the narrative would be is set up for them to have a good campaign conversation before turn because isn't filibuster reform dangs rous. >> it's dangerous until they have a plan. the plan is to two back in the states and win the states again like they've been told to do for about five years now. they can have both. they have to get aggressive. >> great to have you all with us. >> tonight in our survey i asked will republicans ever stop trying to repeal obama care, 5% of you say yes, 95 p% of you sa no. >> the republicans are taking food from children who need it the most. we'll uncover the snap scandal which nobody is talking about. b. and the brand most recommended by... my doctor. my gynecologist. my pharmacist. citracal. citracal. 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[ static warbles ] and in your pretenders segment we examine mr. out of touch himself sean hand day. his charade as a news man reached a new milestone earning the attention of senator marco rubio's thirsty to aplaus handy's truth optional television show. the senator tweeted out congratulations on the thousandth episode. hand day's grip on reality can't get looser. just look at the scar card. >> it wouldn't have happened if he had his way and that think that can be proven on line as well. >> he kicked one player but on the owner hand i like old fashioned discipline. >> i define peace as the ability to defend yourself an blow your enemies. this is a lawless administration that does not respect the constitution. >> you're telling me that the united states was petter off after george bush or before him? >> after. >> i think americans could survive without any more episodes of hand day, that is of course unless they look like this. >> quite frankly you are the worst excuse for a journalist i've ever seen. >> i am the what? i can't hear you. >> you heard me. >> say it again. i didn't hear you. >> i mean what you just displayed was not journalism, it was yellow journalism, it wasn't anything close to tell the american people what's going on. >> sean hand day can keep shoveling it out but if he thinks people will keep buying his great american pop gan da, he can keep on pretending. changing the world is exhausting business. with the innovating and the transforming and the revolutionizing. it's enough to make you forget that you're flying five hundred miles an hour on a chair that just became a bed. you see, we're doing some changing of our own. ah, we can talk about it later. we're putting the wonder back into air travel, one innovation at a time. the new american is arriving. ok s o i' 've been having with greek nonfat yogurt, loaded with protein 0% fat that thick creamy texture, i was in trouble. look i'm in a committed relationship with activia and i've been happy and so has my digestive system. now i'm even happier since activia greek showed up because now i get to have my first love and my greek passion together, what i call a healthy marriage. activia greek. the feel good greek. ♪ dannon welcome back to "the ed shosho show." hoes democrats took to the floor. >> seniors already hit by the sequester, cutting s.n.a.p. is morally wrong and an economic disaster. >> we cannot allow the budget to be balanced on the backs of the poor and most vulnerable in our country. >> to reduce the budget deficit by inflicting hunger on children, seniors and people with disabilities is simply immoral. >> that's right. on wednesday, the house ag committee passed its 2013 farm bill and congressional republicans proposed the biggest cut in food stamps for the poor since the 1996 welfare reform law. >> the bull cuts the supplemental assistance nutrition program by $20 billion over the next ten years. eliminating food assistance to nearly 2 million americans. close to two-thirds of s.n.a.p. recipients are children, elderly or the disabled. two-fifths of s.n.a.p. households earn less than $9,750 a year for a family of three. if these republican cuts are allowed to stand, it's estimated 210,000 children in low income households will lose free school meals when their families lose s.n.a.p. benefits. according to republicans, not a big deal. >> the bottom line is a $20 billion cut is a $2.5 billion cut in the increase. it will not be noticeable. >> one in 52 people in this country rely on food stamps alone. no other income. joining me now, joel berg, executive director for the new york city coalition against hunger. nice to meet you. good to have you on the program. >> thank you, ed. >> how does this story hit you? >> incredibly hypocritical that the very conservatives that lit the match that burn down our economy are now complaining that we have to spend more money on firefighting. our economy is in a mess. i would prefer more americans to have living wage jobs so able-bodied parents could pay for their own food. you focused on this for years and years, the middle class has been dismantled, more people are falling into poverty and food stamps and s.n.a.p. are the only life preserver they have. >> people think it's just a number they're throwing out. do you see it? >> i see it every day. i would love to hear that republican congressman at a soup kitchen or food pantry, the response he gets when he tells low-income hungry americans that a few billion dollars cut out of their grocery budget is not a real budget. >> we spend a lot of time talking about income and equality. it's one of the biggest overriding stories and issues that needs to be addressed over the long haul in this country. i believe income inequality could bring down america as we know it. i believe that. they do tough things when they're hungry. people will go hungry after this. it's unnecessary. it's part of the farm bill which has been controversial over the years because of big ag subsi subsidies. it's hard to navigate through what's right and wrong through this. how do you feel about that? we always had support the family farmer, have price supports, counter cyclical payments, disaster relief, we need to be able to feed our own country, that means everybody. we've had a cheap food policy in this country, no matter what your income level is, you will be able to go to the grocery store and feed yourself, even on minimum wage because of a cheap food policy. we're not subsidizing farmers, we're subsidizing the consumers. now these cuts come in and hurt the very people who its intended to help. >> i agree with you. first and foremost, it's about inequality. the fortune 400 top wealthiest americans have a net worth of $1.7 billion, nearly double the national deficit in its whole. these cuts in the farm bill, they're not reducing the deficit. if they were really reducing the deficit, i would maybe think about supporting some of them. they're not. they're enabling more corporate welfare. here in man hattehattamanhattane subsidies. >> democrats have their hands dirty in this, too. >> absolutely. the senate version of the farm bill will cut more than $4 billion out of the snap program. that's more than president bush ever proposed cutting. there are excuses the other sizes are far worse. >> where is president obama? i thought he was up for the middle class. raising people up out of poverty is not an issue. the democrats and progressive movement has always tackled it. >> he's the first president in u.s. history to have grown up in a family to receive food stamps. in his first term he did a lot. he insisted that the stimulus package include a lot of money for snap benefits. he walked away from that. he did not respond to any of romneys attacks in the three debates. while the u.s. department of agriculture is doing great work under his direction to increase access to eligible families, the president really has acted like he's an innocent bystander in the budget negotiations. he's a bystander, but i don't think he's innocent. >> all right. joel berg, executive director of the new york city coalition against hunger. good to have you with us tonight. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> that is "the ed show." remember, if you want to donate to dan, you can find his website linked at ed.msnbc.com. that's "the ed show." 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