right through these ads and what they re doing to gather money from different donors to fund it. i think that we have a right to have things exposed. i think that americans don t always know what s going on behind the scenes and what the ramifications are. but, jason, is this the way to run a democracy? god, no. i don t think you can find a majority of americans to agree with that right now. and i think what we re seeing is what s going on behind the scenes is a few billionaires are trying to pull the strings of our democracy. and if the supreme court goes along with this and removes the individual limits to federal giving, we ll see a few more billionaires get in the game and congress less responsive. this is a problem of rich versus poor. this will exacerbate the income gap in that country and turn congressmen from being dependent on super pacs and parties to being dependent of donors. they will turn into wholly owned
you can keep your doctor. you can keep your plan. do you think it s right for anybody to go out there and make promises that they know are not going to be kept? do you think it s right, amy, for american families who have lost loved ones fighting overseas for our freedom in afghanistan don t get their benefits because of the government shutdown, can t pay for the funeral, can t fly to beat the coffin. that s horrific. that s horrific, chris. and i believe it s a result of this decision. chris, i believe that our congress or the house of representatives and our senate will do the right thing and get that funding to those families. just like the house has passed, i believe, four crs over the past week that harry reid refuses to bring to the senate floor. president obama keeps say bring a cr, bring a clean cr to the floor and let them vote on it. well, my question is, why doesn t harry reid bring the
kinds of bills including this. and frankly, i think it s disgraceful that they re withholding these benefits. now, the pentagon says they don t have the legal authority to pay these benefits during the shutdown. so wasn t it disgraceful, i mean really disgraceful for republicans to shut down the government in the first place given these implications? absolutely, reverend. absolutely. but you got to understand, goldie and i were one of those select few that served in the military. it s about 1% of america that serves and goes overseas. john boehner s not part of that. he doesn t understand these five families that lost their loved ones this weekend in afghanistan don t have the death benefits. he doesn t understand that the va just closed down 56 centers, educational centers. he doesn t understand they shut down regional centers in the va.
commitment to defunding or repealing the affordable care act? well, martin, truth is, i actually have a different perspective. in fact, i agree with senator baucus, who said this thing could be a train wreck. now, look, if i see a train wreck coming down the track, why wouldn t i do everything i possibly could to prevent that wreck from happening? so you would so are you saying, sir, you believe we should refuse to fund the government, that you pick up your paycheck, but soldiers in afghanistan don t. that you pick up your paycheck and federal employees serving this nation throughout the country sir the united states house of representatives a week ago passed a bill to fund every aspect of the federal government well into the month of december, but did not put anymore money toward what appears to be a failing proposition in the affordable care act. that was a responsible i think that was a responsible bill. i wish that senator reid had paid more attention to it. now they
actually eat a high-quality meal should not be one of the challenges that they face. steve: the crazy thing is a number of members of her staff make over $100,000 a year. if they can t figure out how to budget so they can eat in the cafeteria, they probably shouldn t be in charge of the united states budget. gretchen: two things that come to mind when i hear that. i think there has been an increase in jobs in the government over the last four years during the recession when unemployment was at a high level. i think the jobs that were actually increasing were government jobs. the second point is that there was no mention there about the payroll tax hike that is also affecting every middle-class american that went into effect january 1. that may be the first place to look as well as high gas prices that may be taking money out of people s wallets right now. steve: what about the fact that the troops in afghanistan don t even get hot meals, and here she is complaining they can t afford