was steaming right along with its own version of the texas bill, these ultrasound laws were ready to go all across the country. and republican-controlled states all across the country, the anti-abortion movement had made sure these bills were poised to move. but once that attention on the virginia law started to burn a hole through bob mcdonnell s vice presidential ambitions, once what virginia was trying to do became a national story and a point of national political focus and ridicule, efforts to do the same thing in many of those other states just started to fall apart. by february 26th, less than two weeks after the uproar started over virginia s bill, alabama s governor, robert bentley was asked about the very similar forced ultrasound bill pending in his state. the very next day after the governor was asked on february 27th, the republican sponsor of that bill in alabama suddenly backed away from it, saying he was going to rewrite the bill to remove the vaginal probe requirement.
despite reports that might he not only win the vote. it has now devolved into outright defiance of his leadership, outright derision against him from his own side. his own plan to avert the fiscal cliff before christmas went to the floor where it was quickly clear that the bill wasn t going to pass, so it was humiliatingly pulled. the white house eventually stopped negotiating with john boehner when it became clear there was no point. republicans were not taking instruction from him. so he couldn t promise anything about their behavior. so why would you talk to him about what republicans were going to do? in the end, his congress not only passed less legislation than any congress in american history, it could also not pass the basic keep government running bills that have bipartisan support, that have previously made their way across capitol hill with, yes, the usual wrangling, but with the expectation that they do have to
its own version of the texas bill, these ultrasound laws were ready to go all across the country. and republican-controlled states all across the country, the anti-abortion movement had made sure these bills were poised to move. but once that attention on the virginia law started to burn a hole through bob mcdonnell s vice presidential ambitions, once what virginia was trying to do became a national story and a point of national political focus and ridicule, efforts to do the same thing in many of those other states just started to fall apart. by february 26th, less than two weeks after the uproar started over virginia s bill, alabama s governor, robert bentley was asked about the very similar forced ultrasound bill pending in his state. the very next day after the governor was asked on february 27th, the republican sponsor of that bill in alabama suddenly backed away from it, saying he was going to rewrite the bill to remove the vaginal probe requirement.
and that will not be handy if he ever tries to seek further political office after he is turfed out of the governorship this year. it was february of last year when virginia republicans got to work on what started out as a forced vaginal probe ultrasound bill. and for whatever reason, that bill in virginia got a lot of national attention. i have to ask you about this red-hot story that has gotten so much ink, so many women in particular fired up. you backed an abortion bill initially that included a very invasive procedure as part of an ultrasound that the state would have required. and then you backed off of that. were you wrong to support that initially, or did you simply back off because the political heat got turned up the way it did? governor, you ve gone through this with the person to debate and the ultrasound bill in virginia there is a feisty conversation going on right there. this is a bill, an abortion bill that would have mandated that women get what is called a tra
the senate passed it last week. everybody expected it was going to get done because he said it was going to get done. and then he just walked away without explanation, without warning, and without anybody having any idea what he was thinking. chaos. joining us now is charles schumer. he is the senior senator from new york. he is a democrat. he is a member of the finance committee. senator schumer, thank you for being here. good evening. the senate obviously passed the bill for sandy relief. it was a surprise when the house did not. we re now hearing that the house will get it to later on this month. is that is that good enough? well, we ll see. if we get the $60 billion by the end of january, it will certainly be relief that people need. but, remember, every week you wait is a problem. i was with homeowners in long beach. they have huge amounts of damage in their home. and they can t get a contractor to sign a contractor a bank to give them a construction loan until they know t