Ncer taking your emails on any topic at any time, this is the bill press show. Live on your radio and current tv. Bill hey for janet i want to say happy hanukkah, janet. Im sorry. Shes pointed out we keep saying Merry Christmas and we have not wished our jewish friends a happy hanukkah. Hanukkah is underway. Christmas is still way off. Janet, sorry were late getting to that. Happy hanukkah. George wants to know if me and our entire current staff are card carrying dues paying Union Members. Perhaps you can clarify this on your show tomorrow. Im proud to tell you george, we are Union Members. This is a union shop. Here is my union card. Heres mine. Bill ive been a member since 1981. We are a proud union shop and my brothers and sisters are here for you. u [ theme ] bill hello hello hello fellow americans it is the full court press here on current tv. Welcome, welcome thursday, december 13. Great to see you today on a busy day in our Nations Capital. Congress scurrying around still trying to get something going on the fiscal cliff. And the latest poll shows that 2 3 of americans including a majority of democrats republicans and independents all say that congressional leaders meaning republicans should compromise so we can avoid going over the fiscal cliff. That means republicans must give up their insistence that the bush tax cuts continue for the wealthiest of americans because it aint gonna happen. The president s not going to sign the bill and the American People dont want to give them a continued tax break. They think they ought to pay more. So lets just get it done and then go home and celebrate the holidays. Hey, good to have you with us. Well talk about all of that and get all of latest including whats happening out in the state of michigan. But first, we take time out for todays current news update. Lisa fergusons got it out in los angeles. Hi, lisa. Good morning. Hey bill. Good morning everyone. Americans are calling for a Major Overhaul of the Republican Party. Especially when it comes to the g. O. P. s pro rich policies. According to a new Bloomberg National poll, 87 of people say its time for some type of change. Even support within the Republican Party is low. Only 16 of g. O. P. Members think their party is fine the way it is. Nbc news wall street journal poll shows favorability is slipping. Only 30 of those respondents see the party in a positive light. 45 say they dont approve. At issue here is the view of republicans as the party of the rich. Voters say it is time to broaden the base and change what they value. Some big topics include gay marriage immigration and abortion rights. If republicans are looking to change their stance on abortion, michigan isnt helping much. The state senate there just passed one of the countrys most extreme abortion bans in a 2710 vote. Among other restrictions, the bill would limit abortion in rural areas. It would force doctors to prove their patients were not coerce and it would impose complicated regulations that could drive clinics out of business. The bill is now headed back to the state house for a final vote. More bill press is coming up live after the break. Stay with us. Youre about to watch an ad message created by a current tv viewer for capella university. Matter. Education is the key. It is the vehicle. Its the way in which we evolve. Every journey is different every possibility is unique. But the beginning, the beginning is my craft. Im an ordinary person striving to achieve extraordinary things. It started with a dream and im on my way there. Announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. Bill yes indeed. Congress getting ready to go home again today without accomplishing anything. What fiscal cliff . They dont seem to be worried about it. Good morning everybody. It is thursday, december 13. Good to see you today here on the full court press coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station. If youre lucky enough to have one and on current tv. Booming out to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our radio factory book factory tv factory here on capitol hill in washington, d. C. In the shad dove the capitol dome where members of congress busy going to holiday parties. I saw several of them last night. At a holiday party. The department of labor, thrown by our good friend, secretary of labor hilda soliz but they didnt get much work done on capitol hill as we just heard from David Jackson from the white house. Seems like things have come to a dead stop both at the white house and on the congress mainly because republicans still refuse to theyre still insisting that the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 of americans be extended permanently. Come on, john boehner you lost the election the American People want to move forward. American people want the wealthiest of americans to pay their fair share. Boehner, why are you representing the 2 and not just the 98 . Lots and lots to talk about here this morning. And youll want to get into the conversation, we know, and you can do so, give us a call at 186655press. Follow us on twitter and talk to us on twitter at bpshow. Or on facebook. Facebook. Com billpressshow. Our team here, entire team, phil backert has the phones. Go ahead. Bill peter ogborn and dan henning. It was a tough lunch yesterday. Still a little foggy. Ive never seen you drink so many martinis. Bill well, theyre good at the palm. So i just tell them to make a pitcher. [ laughter ] bill i was wellbehaved compared to cyprian. Cyprian is our videographer here. He slept from noon yesterday until what . I think 4 00 this morning. He just woke up. He looks terrible this morning. Bill poor guy. He cant even speak to defend himself. Ive never seen anybody mix cocktails the way he did. He put a little bit of everything behind the bar. Rum, tequila vodka tomato juice and pineapple juice. Bill it beats having to make a decision. Exactly. Why decide when you can have everything. Bill you just mix them altogether. Big concert last night in new york for those who are still sober. The 121212 to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy particularly in new york and new jersey. I guess the biggest attraction was Paul Mccartney appearing with nirvana. Nirvana reunited. Obviously they cant have all of the members since kurt cobain is no longer with us. Paul mccartney stepped in to be kurt cobain. Bill heres what it sounded like. Bill all right. I am very disappointed that they did not do a nirvana song. They didnt do one of the classics. They did a brand new song. Its called cut me some slack, brand new song. Bill would have been nice to do one of the classic mccartney songs. Hes recording that with dave grohl but i think that gawker said that this is the second worst thing to happen to nirvana fans. Paul mccartney. Im a big nirvana fan and i would love to see Paul Mccartney team up with them. Dave grohl might be the best drummer working and he doesnt even drum in his band, the foo fighters now. The fact that two of them are in a band now, it would be great. Bill coming up, congressman sandy levin from michigan is going to join us atop the next hour. Well start out this hour by going out to michigan and talking to karla swift, head of the aflcio in michigan. And Karla Davenport talking about whether or not we can see action on Global Warming but first, dan. This is the full court press. Quick check of other headlines making news. Former president george w. Bush is set to become a grandfather. Daughter Jenna Hager Bush announcing yesterday hes pregnant with her first child. The 31yearold nbc contributor said so on the today show. Shes due in the spring. President bush said he wont change any diapers any time soon. He just wants to be the grandpa that drives the ford f250 around the ranch with the kid in the pickup truck. Bill they asked president bush what he wants his granddaughter or grandchild to call him. What did he say . Bill he said sir. All right okay. Yeah, thats good. Politifact is out with its lie of the year. According to the st. Petersburg fact check arm, mitt romneys infamous jeep ad is the top lie of 2012. He claimed that jeep was packing up jobs and shipping them off to china. Not the case. Bill got caught with that lie. The very last batch of twinkies from the shuddered Hostess Company has gone on sale. It is now basically gone. Super Value Grocery chain in chicago made the final purchase from hostess. They got an order of 20,000 twinkies. They went on sale monday at 150 different stores. Pretty much all gone by yesterday. Bill oh, my god. How about that. You dont think they ate them. Save them. Theyll stay good for awhile. Bill sell them on ebay. Yes, i have to tell you department of labor last night holiday party. Hosted by secretary of labor hilda soliz and i talked to a couple of International Labor president s there lee saunders from afscme, joseph nigro from the sheet metalworkers. President jim hoffa from the teamsters was here on the program with us on monday. All of them said of course theyre outraged by what happened in michigan. Michigan just forcing through the republicans in the legislature, forcing through this righttowork legislation. Signed into law immediately. Theyre outraged by this. They vowed to continue the fight in michigan. And expect to have to continue that fight in other states. What is next . Were going to go out to michigan and say hello to karla swift who is the head of the Michigan State aflcio. Hey, karla good to have you with us this morning. Caller good morning, bill. Good to be with you. Bill so Governor Rick Snyder says it is your fault karla, because you guys put this initiative on the ballot that would have enshrined collective bargaining and if you hadnt done that, they wouldnt have stuck with you right to work legislations so it is all your fault, huh . Thats an interesting spin on the facts but the fact is that Governor Snyder really lied to michigan citizens for two and a half years. He said over and over again that right to work wasnt on his agenda. Bill yeah. Then last week, instead of engaging michiganders in any kind of open and honest conversation about this legislation, he rushed the bill through. He made the decision to move it. With legislators, that voters chose not to reflect. To reelect because he wanted to avoid next years legislators. Bill so will there be a democratic majority next year or more democrats in the house and senate . There will be more democrats in the house next year. The senate was not changed at all in the 2012 election. But there will be more democrats in the house and the the margin is so is slimmer in a way that you know, when they did the count they knew that they couldnt win this kind of legislation next year. Bill the governor also said i dont believe a word he says, by the way, but i want to get your reaction. He called which i thought was outrageous he said this isnt antiworker. This is really pro worker. Whats the truth about righttowork legislation karla . Well, right to work means that across the board workers will fair worse in Wages Benefits pensions, on average workers in righttowork states make about 1500 a year less. So it means less spending, fewer jobs. Weaker communities. And just when michigan was on the right track, the governor has put this kind of a devicive policy in place and it really is an attack on the middle class and all of the rebuilding that has been going on is threatened. Bill well, we fought the fight in wisconsin. Fought it in ohio. And people are geared up all around the country. The labor president s i talked to yesterday, at least three of them theyre geared up to continue the fight in michigan. The question is what are the options available . Is it possible to repeal this . Is it possible to recall the governor . What are the options youre considering . Well, clearly, michigan voters are going to have the last say when it comes to this. There are multiple ballot options. There are Key Senate Races and the house is up again in 2014. In fact, the governor is up, of course in 2014. And there are multiple ballot options. So were looking now at you know, at the strategy for the next couple of years. And were going to be organizing across the state and making sure that were you know, aiming for a shift in power in the legislature and in the Governors Office in 2014. And there are options to do a citizens initiated law to override. Well be looking at all of those things. Bill thats particularly what i want to ask about. Im from california. We have a referendum. If the Legislature Passes something people dont like, you get enough signatures, you can put it on the ballot and repeal it just like what was done in ohio. Does that option exist in michigan . Well, the option exists in michigan but the sneaky way that this governor and this right wing legislature did this was they attached an appropriation to it. And in michigan, when theres an appropriation attached to a law it is referendumproof. So we will not be able to repeal this law. But we will have to pass a new law to override it. Bill okay. Now we talked to one of the leaders in wisconsin yesterday karla. Were talking again with karla swift, the president of the aflcio in michigan. And your web site, i believe is miaflcio. Org. Is that correct . Yes, thats right. Bill miaflcio. Org. This leader from wisconsin john nichols said one of the first things they did in wisconsin is they hired a good group of lawyers to challenge their legislation in the courts. Is this another option . Do you see some possible legal action to challenge the law . Yeah, we have a legal team that has been looking at that and well be making decisions soon about how to move on that front as well. So well be moving on the legal front. Well be moving on the electoral front. Well be moving on the organizing front and the political front and thats our job for the next two years. Bill absolutely. Ill tell you one thing karla we all know this. It would not have happened if current tvs Jennifer Granholm were still the governor of michigan. No doubt about that, right . We absolutely know that. The direction this state has gone in the short two years since shes been out of office is just is just outrageous. They started off by taxing seniors pensions and cutting education and cutting things like earned income tax credits. Just a tax one after another on working people. You would have never seen that happen with Jennifer Granholm. Bill , no she was great. We love having her on current tv. But i know you miss her in michigan. And again, she would have held the line against this. Karla swift you got your work cut out for you. Thank you for your leadership in michigan and you know youlls be joined by your brothers and sisters all across the country starting right here with the bill press team. Thanks karla. Thanks so much, bill. Take care. Bill karla swift miaflcio. Org. Check it out. Announcer this is the full court press. The bill press show. Live on your radio and on current tv. Going to do the young turks. I think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They know that im not bsing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know that im going to be the first one to call them out. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ theme ] announcer this is the bill press show. Live on your radio and current tv. Announcer chatting with you live at current. Com billpress. This is the bill press show. Bill 24 minutes after the hour. And the next segment, were going to get into Global Warming. Whether we can expect any action on Global Warming with coral davenport, covers environmental and Energy Issues for the National Journal. I was talking with karla swift from michigan about plans to try to overturn the righttowork legislation. Michigan becoming the 24th state this week to have righttowork legislation. Thanks to Governor Rick Snyder who campaigned for governor saying man the last thing i want is to get into any of the battles over labor issues like scott walker in wisconsin and john kasich. Uhhuh, thats not me. I dont want anything to do with any of these challenges. He was lying through his teeth. Paul calling from out in seattle, washington. What do you say . Hey bill, listen, i was born and raised in detroit michigan. Im proud alumnus of Michigan State university. I have family back there. But i gotta tell you im unsympathetic and let me tell you why. The attitude of people back there, even democrats is that anybody whos got two more nickels to run together than i do their attitude is take his nickels away dont give me some more. It is take somebody elses away. They knew what they were voting for. The whole legislature the governor everything is all right wing. Theyve been doing this for 20 years since they got john engler in there. Thats when i left. The people of michigan are going to have to pull their heads out of their rears and start waking up to what the thing that really makes me angry is not so much whats going to happen to them but how it hurts labor around the country bill sure. And you know other states, paul, there will be other governors who will say hey they got away with it in michigan. Lets do it here. Im in a true blue state and im sticking with it. Bill good for you paul. Unfortunately, there are too many members of labor unions who voted for this jerk, rick snyder thinking that oh, man he wont hurt me. But boy, hes good on guns. Ill go with him or Something Like that. Laura is down in i never know produce to pronounce it. Sebring, florida. C