introduce you, and this is really a fun one, to the southern avenger. a wild and wacky character who thinks poor john wilkes booth was misunderstood and happens to work for a united states senator. that is coming up. first tonight, democrats have said enough and are calling attention to one of the most outrageous acts of gop obstructionism which is, of course, saying a lot given the stiff competition in the cat fwoir of outrageous acts of gop obstruction. by refusing to confirm the president's nominees, republicans have effectively shut down the supreme court of labor law in this country. the national labor relations board. and today 201 house members sent a letter to senator mitch mcconnell demanding that the filibuster of nlrb nominations come to an end. >> without the nlrb, 80 million private sector workers will have nowhere to turn for legal protection. hardworking americans deserve better than mitch mcconnell's political stunts. >> a pillar of american justice is if you don't have a remedy then you don't have meaningful rights. >> our republican colleagues treat labor rights as toxic. they're wrong. >> if you don't have a remedy, you don't have meaningful rights. supreme court of labor law, the nlrb has been inoperable for a year and a half. it's really astounding. i mean, think about just turning off the supreme court for a year and a half. all those big decisions that came down the last few weeks, all the consequences for people seeking redress, gone, shuttered. there are real consequences the nlrb. it oversees all kinds of cases. if your boss illegally withholds wages or benefits, if your boss fires you for a facebook post about safety or salary in the workplace, fires for you trying to organize fellow workers, all those disputes would work their way through to the nlrb. there are a wide range of actions both by you and your boss which come under the umbrella of its protection. if the nlrb isn't there to tell your boss that he can't do that, well, then, your boss can pretty much do as he pleases. keep in mind the nominations to the five-person nlrb are made by the president. the nlrb has been effectively shut down because of an amazing two-pronged assault by conservatives in two different branchs. okay. first. senate republicans refuse to confirm anyone. they've been filibustering every nominee from the president which then forces the president to make recess appointments so that the board had enough members to actually function and issue decisions. ah-ha. but then three republican-appointed judges on the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia said those resource appointments are unconstitutional. and the supreme court has now agreed to take the case on appeal this fall. but until they do or until mitch mcconnell actually allows the president's full package of five nominees including two republicans, two republicans, the president is nominating the republicans won't let it for a vote. until mitch mcconnell gives them a vote, the nlrb is in limbo. now, why would anyone want the nlrb to be in limbo? big business wants nothing more than for the nlrb to not issue decisions, and conservatives want nothing more than to just quietly destroy and render permanently inoperable the government body that oversees labor law. they want to make it thdisappea without anyone noticing. so far they've been able to do that. today at that news conference, those lawmakers featured workers whose lives are in limbo because the nlrb decisions effecting them are just out to lunch. here's kathleen autsen, a baker at panera bread in michigan, who works the night shift, describing the process of trying to organize her fellow workers. >> we had to attend meetings where the boss, a good christian, decided we didn't need a union because he would take care of us. during this process we heard about how we would have open talks, we heard about how they would take care of us and then they started their terror campaign. >> in march of 2012, those workers formed a union. the company refused to negotiate a contract with them. eventually the nlrb found the company's actions violated labor law. but that decision was issued by a board with recess appointees. and the d.c. court has cast all of those decisions, all of them issued by the board that featured those recess appointees who were only appointed because republicans refused to confirm anyone else. the d.c. court has cast all of those into legal limbo, meaning kathleen and millions of other workers are out of luck. joining me now is congresswoman linda sanchez, democrat from california. and larry cohen, president of communications workers of america. congresswoman, i'll begin with you. why did you send this letter today in why did you hold this press conference? what is different now? is this a breaking point? >> we've just seen an incredible lack of cooperation between the republicans and the white house. and this is just the prime example of how they are hurting american workers and american families by obstructing the normal business of our government. and i think this can't be allowed to go on. it's reached a point where people's lives are being ruined because of it. there are workers similar to kathleen who have been awarded backpay and reinstatement in their jobs because of illegal things their employers were doing. and all that is in limbo until we can get nlrb folks confirmed. so we've just had enough. we want to apply the pressure. we want to let minority leader mcconnell know that the american public isn't going to stand and take this. >> larry, if someone is -- if viewers are watching this right now and the nlrb sounds like an abstract body and a fight over nominees and no one knows the names of these nominees, who these people are, probably don't know this board exists or why it's important. what are the stakes for just average workers? why should i care that the nlrb has been rendered inoperable? >> so two categories. first you have 6 million workers like the employees at panera bread who are involved trying to have a voice at work, being able to bargain with their employers. there's 6 million workers covered who have bargaining rights by the board and by the regions of the board. not just the board in washington. those court decisions strike at all of the work of all of the regions. secondly, you have on average 4,000 workers a year who don't have a union who bring up issues like you discussed at the top of the show. they might have a discussion about our pay. nothing about a union. two people talk about the pay. the employer decides, well, we don't want anyone talking about pay, you're gone, or you're disciplined. or workers at the jet propulsion lab, a famous case where they discussed surveillance on themselves via e-mail at the company. and they were brought to the highest level of discipline at jet propulsion lab. so it's really two categories. it's people trying to have bargaining rights, and the nlrb is really the floor that is now falling apart for those 6 million workers. and it's about just basic employee rights is no other age focuses on rights on the job. >> if you're a worker, this is basically, you're a worker and something is done to you that is not right and is possibly a violation of a law, you are -- the cop that you call, the voice at the other end of the line ultimately is is going going to nlrb. there is no one answering that phone right now. you don't have anyone to enforce whatever violations. it could be that your company is violating the law and congresswoman, without the nlrb there to say so, that law functionally does not exist. >> correct because you don't have a remedy. you have no forum in which to have your case heard. there's a very famous quote that justice delayed is justice denied. that's essentially what's happening. it's as if something really bad happened to you and you wanted to go to court to have a judge hear it but they're not willing to hire the judges. so where do you go? you're frit much out of luck. right? >> larry, part of what of this is so amazing, two of these appointees that are appointed being nominated by the president are republicans. i mean, you've been watching republicans go after labor for a long time. is this the worst you've seen? is this different? >> it's getting worse every year. this is the worst we've seen. and it's, as you know, not just the labor. it's not just labor appointme appointments. it's environmental protection. it's the consumer financial protection bureau. it's anything that's about working people in this country. they go after. they think that fairytale capitalism from the 18th century, no regulation, no agencies, that that's the ideal. and even though they're the minority and the president was elected overwhelmingly, they believe, as the minority, they can block the majority from acting. >> congressman -- >> that will be the problem. >> congresswoman linda sanchez, and larry cohen from communication workers of america. thank you, both. >> thank you. >> as larry cohen was just saying the blocking of nlrb nominations is a sliver of mitch mcconnell's full-spectrum assault on executive agencies and boards he doesn't care for. rather than block specific nominees because of who they are, the gop minority is now blocking nominees because of the position they are nominated for. richard cordray is being blocked as director of consumer financial protection bureau because republicans and big business hate the agency. they don't have particular feelings about cordray, they hate the agency. gin ark mccarthy is being held up as director of the epa, under the guise she's not sufficiently answered the 1,000 questions submitted to her by the gop as a delay tactic because the republicans and big business, well, they hate the epa. and thomas perez, president obama's nominee for labor secretary, is getting similar treatment. behind the scenes senate d democrats are preparing, this is real, i talked to someone on the hill about this today, they're preparing to change filibuster, invoking the so-called nuclear option to change senate rules to only a simple majority would be required to confirm nominees for federal agencies' cab innocenin appointments. senate democrats are at long last way, way, way overdie coming to a conclusion only a reasonable person can. the filibuster is a cancer that is threatening to kill off not just the senate but the executives' ability to do the routine daily functions of government. joining me now, senator jeff merkley, democrat from oregon. senator sherrod brown, democrat from ohio. senator brown, i want to twin with you. this can all take on a grounds hog day quality. republicans are blocking nominees and people say, well both sides do it and when it was a republican president, democrats blocked nominees. there's something qualityively different about blocking nominees not because you have an objection to the nominee, but because of the agency they're actually nominated to head, you don't like that. >> yeah. first of all, mitch mcconnell's the only person i know who thinks washington is works just fine and he likes the way it's working. take the point you just made. the consumer financial bureau was set up by dodd/frank under the law. this is the first time in sen e senates history, ever, that one political party has blocked someone's confirmation because they don't like the agency. actually it's the second time. the first time was when they did this with cordray a couple years ago. they don't object to him. they want to emasculate the agency. mcconnell said he wishes the consumer bureau didn't exist. most of my republican colleagues want to do wall street's bidding and emasculate or weaken the agency so it doesn't have much authority. then they'll confirm the director. if you set that precedent that you only confirm people when you like the agency, we cannot really run a functional government in this country. and that's what's especially insidious about what they're doing. >> senatormerkley, you've been leading the charge on filibuster reform. i cheer you on in the democratic process. harry reid, we're taking it serious this time, we're going to get tough, we're going to get serious and again and again and again it doesn't happen. there has been no nuclear option, has been no change of the rules. is something going to change now over this? what are you hearhearing? what are you seeing in the caucus? >> i think we're ready for a major showdown over nominations. the president has said, how can i run an executive branch if i can't get my folks who are nominated up for a vote? indeed, he's absolutely right. the advice and consent clause of the constitution was set in a simple majority framework. not a supermajority. the founders warned against the evils of a supermajority, creating dysfunction. it simply doesn't fit with three equal branches of government that one branch and actually part of one branch, the u.s. senate, should be able to disable judiciary and the executive branch. >> 40% of half a branch, which i guess is 20% of a branch, which is1/3, so about 7% of the government once we sort of put that all in. just so folks are clear on this. senator brown, do you worry, i mean, are you ready as someone who has been, i think, broadly supportive of filibuster reform but has not been one of the most outspoken leaders of this like senator merkley and others. are you ready to see this, to actually precipitate this confrontation and go to the nuclear option, 51 votes to confirm appointees, even if that means a republican president in the future can use that precedence? >> yeah, i think whoever -- i've been ready to do that for a long time, and i appreciate the work that senator merkley's done and senator tom udall of new mexico, who really led the charge on this, and tom harkin from iowa has been engaged, too. and i think any president should have the ability to put people in place for the -- at the pleasure of the president. these are not judges. that's a whole other issue. but that people who are going to carry out the functions, the president who is elected. president obama won almost every swing state in the country last time. he had an overwhelming margin. particularly in the electoral college. he should get the people in place whom he wants to -- unless there's some problem with them. they don't ever argue these aren't qualified people. >> they're not arguing on the merits. >> they're just arguing really they don't like their philosophy or don't like the agency or don't like some of the political decisions these people had made. all of them are very fine public servants. rich cordray. perez. the secretary, i hope secretary of labor. the nlrb appointments who are particularly important because as larry cohen said, if we don't act by july 27th, a couple of weeks away on the nlrb, it means fundamentally there is no enforceable labor law as congresswoman sanchez said on labor day. and we have a strong vibrant middle class in this country because of collective bargaining rights, because workers have some power in the workplace. that agency will be emasculated and that power will be undercut. in the middle class, will continue its decline. >> senator jeff merkley who will be back to talk to us more about filibuster reform. i have a sense this is going to play out in a high-stakes way over the next week. and senator sherrod brown. when we return, what happens when a major american city goes bankrupt? 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[ male announcer ] fiber one. congestion, for it's smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. and now that the busses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution to the earth. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment. last night we told you about reported abuses at california state prisons including the illegal sterilization of female inmates and years of solitary confinement for inmates at pelican bay. today, we learned that an estimated 30,000 prison inmates began refusing meals in the largest prison protest in state history. that protest is part of a coordinated effort across the california prison system to end indefinite solitary confinement. state correction officials will not recognize the protest as a hunger strike until inmates have missed nine consecutive meals. we will continue to follow this story as it develops. on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors, where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i love you, angie. sorry, honey. the last thing i want is to feel like someone is giving me a sales pitch, especially when it comes to my investments. you want a broker you can trust. a lot of guys at the other firms seemed more focused on selling than their clients. that's why i stopped working at my old brokerage and became a financial consultant with charles schwab. avo: what kind of financial consultant are you looking for? talk to us today. the city of detroit is poised to go under. that is not an exaggeration. as early as this month, detroit could become the largest city in the country's history to go bankrupt. kevin ore is city's emergency financial manager, appointed by fwn gn republican governor rick snyder. he's tasked with turning around detroit's money problems. he was asked yesterday by "detroit free press" whether the city would file for bankruptcy within the month, and he said, "to be honest with you, this week, this week, is pretty crucial. detroit owes creditors between $16 billion and $18 billion and finds itself in a position that anyone has ever found themselves in the quicksand of too much debt can relate to. the city is fending off demands for higher interest rates. has to decide whether to make the choice to default on some of that debt and all the while is making brutally difficult triage decisions on which spending to cut. it's led detroit mayor david bing to cut city spending by $172 million a year since taking office in 2009. the less the city spends on basic services, the less people want to live in detroit. the city's population has dropped by 5% since 2000. around 30% of detroit is vacant. the empty properties occupy an area nearly the size of san francisco. according to the "washington post," property tax collections are down 20% in the last 50 years. the more the tax base shrink, the less revenue the city has. the resz revenue, services, and the more people leave. today the "the new york times" had a really eye opening front-page story about what all this means in real terms for the people of detroit. and let's remember there are still 700,000 people living there. people in detroit can no longer count on even the most basic of city services. these folks are planning for an existence in which police just stop shows up for emergencies. the detroit police's average response time for calls for the highest priority crimes this year was 58 minutes. 58 minutes. of all the sad, unfortunate numbers that are defining detroit today, that one may be the most disturbing. joining me now is joanne watson, a member of the detroit city council, former executive director of the detroit naacp. councilwoman, my first question for you, as someone who's not in detroit, who's been following the coverage of detroit closely, are things there as dire as they seem from the outside? >> first of all, thank you very much for having me, chris hayes, and i appreciate the opportunity to provide some ambulance to the article that was in "the new york times" today. clearly there's a fiscal crisis in this community that's undeniable. the fact that $139 million just in interest is owed to financial institutions, banks, and $105 million in principle is something that must be renegotiated. that's what the leadership of the city has put before these financial groups. we don't want to spend that kind of money paying down debt when the services are much more critical to the needs of our citizens. but the most important crisis you should be aware of facing this city is not fiscal. it's constitutional. there is the appointed emergency manager has removed the powers of the elected officials so not only in detroit, but for 52% of the black citizens in michigan, there is no representative leadership. there's no elected leadership representing their interests. >> so as you as an elected -- >> and that was done -- the citizens, 2.3 million michigan citizens voted this past november, the same day we voted to re-elect president barack obama, 2.3 million citizens repealed the emergency management law. what did the republicans do? went to work in december during the lame duck session, put it back in force lawlessly. and that is something that's not being mentioned. >> so you have an emergency manager now named kevyn orr. >> yes. >> he is the one who's been quoted in the papers, he's the one charged now with the state, with trying to negotiate a fiscal solution for the city. what is he doing now that you think, that you would be doing differently as the autonomous city government of detroit? >> one of the things that should be noticed is that the importance of renegotiating the debt load is something that city council members, like myself, talked about, urged to be put in place to remediate the city's finances. one of the things we need to do is make sure the people who owe the city money, like the state of michigan, which owes a ton, pay their debt. can you imagine? the same state of michigan, this republican-led state, governor and legislature, is refusing to pay its debt to the city of detroit. can you imagine that? >> the state owes the city money? >> yes. yes. and the bill has been put before them. they have publicly acknowledged, it's been acknowledged in electronic and print media that they owe, they refuse to pay, and they're unashamedly arrogant in that posture. we're not going to pay. and you can't make us pay. >> councilwoman, you're talking about -- >> but one of the critical issues facing the city in terms of the long-term needs of our residents, who clearly are the priority, they must have services. they deserve it and we cannot have a lack of public safety response, as you outlined in the earlier segment. the -- we have a new police chief who just started five days ago who is committed to lessening that response time and have a level of integrity and principle. >> that is not a job i would -- >> committed to that. >> that is not a job i wish on my worst enemy. detroit city council member, joann watson, thank you so much. >> thank you. okay. don't go away, because? you turn the channel now anyone you'll never know the true identity of the southern aven r avenger. squeal ] twelve bucks a night! no. they have waterbeds. ew. no! are we near a gas station? [ phone beeps] [ phone ] no. is that from the mini bar? [ both ] no. is that a cop? no. [ cop ] do you know how fast you were going? no. eighty-seven [ groans ] he's right. is that oscar mayer? [ karen] yes! 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the southern avenger. well, because of the man he works for. senator rand paul of kentucky. oh, yes, he does. jack hunter co-wrote rand paul's 2011 book "the tea party goes to washington." he's even thanked in the book's acknowledgements for his indispensable writing talent. he serves as rand paul's new media director, right now. the reason we know so much about jack hunter today of all days is because in an article on the conservative news website "the free beacon" lincoln to many of hunter's statements, a spokesperson for rand paul told the site "senator paul holds his staff to a standard that includes treating every individual with equal protection and respect without exception." hunter said his views on race have "changed dramatically." sentiments he echoed in an april piece in the "american conservative." there are things rand paul says once in a while i agree with. some stances he's taken afind praise worthy. there are some things i find absolutely loathsome. in the final analysis, there are certain thing, certain views that put you outside of the boundaries of being listened to on anything. i'd say white supremacy is one of those. and association with people that hold those views or endorsements of feature of those views, well, they render you unfit. even if you take the most charitable view possible that, say, you get three white supremacist strikes, rand paul's in trouble. strike one was in 2009 when rand paul's senate campaign spokesperson was forced to resign over a whorriblery racis comment posted by a friend on his myspace wall on martin luther king weekend and allowed to remain for almost two years. rand paul went on the "rachel maddow show" saying he didn't like the civil rights act. that was strike two. now this. southern avenger on the senator's staff. well, i'm sorry, rand paul. that's three racist strikes. you're out. we'll be right back wi with #click3. this is bad. no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got the it card, so we won't hike up your apr for paying late. that's great! it is great! thank you. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness. 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[ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. former presidential candidate mike huckabee compared abortion to slavery. the fight over women's reproductive rights is getting more intense in texas and it's a fight that's spreading quickly across the country. that's coming up. first, i want to share the three awesomest things on the internet today. beginning with one man's quest to save time and characters. meet paul mathis, investsed time and approximately $75,000 australian dollars to create a new letter of alphabet. here it is. this is meant to symbolize the word the. mathis created it as a way to save people time while texting. communicate the most used word in english language through a simple key stroke instead of the more laborious time consuming t-h-e. the symbol's value rises in the context of twitter saving users two pressure characters. buzzfeed points out the aussie restaurant has developed an app that puts the 27th letter on your keyboard. why stop at 27? here are a few other suggestions. here's a symbol for the word of. here's a symbol for the word that. here's a symbol for yolo. get on it. the second awesomest thing on the internet today, paying it forward through a brother's love. seth collins on a mission to honor his brother, aaron, who died shortly after his 30th birthday. he left behind one final rye quest to leave a hardworking server an awesome tip. not 25%, but $500 for a pizza, he wrote. last year, he landed 500 bucks to an unsuspecting waitress at a pizzeria in lexington, kentucky, an boast edpoest posted it on y. donations to the project started coming in. $60,000 so far. seth is traveling across the u.s. making sure servers in all 50 states get a great tip in honor of aaron. take a look at this latest surprise in indianapolis. >> back in july of last year, my little brother passed away, aaron, and his last wish in his will was that we go out to dinner and leave a waiter or waitress an awesome tip and this is $500. it's for you. you're welcome. you're welcome. >> i seriously love watching these vid videos. it's a great reminder, as long as we have the semifeudal institution of tipping in this country, always err on the side of generosity. the third awesomest thing on the internet today, the new front in the battle for gender equality. the convention at seneca falls. "the new york times" discovers one man's plan to allow women to join the club is not going over too well with some of its members. traditionally the club has been a refuge of elderly males and 69-year-old ronny cohen wants to keep it that way. aisle n i'm not saying women are inferior but they're inferior players. i want to play comfortable, scratch myself, curse and play like the barbarian i am. as pointed out, women won the last co-ed tournament. they hate me over here because i'm sticking with the ladies. given the trajectory, i'm pretty sure the glass ceiling will crack and robby will have to scratch himself in private. god bless feminism. find the links to tonight's #click3 on my website, allinwithchris.com. she's seen . oh this could be trouble. [ sentra lock noise ] oh man. gotta think fast, herbie. back pedal, back pedal. [ crowd cheering ] oh, he's down in flames and now the ice-cold shoulder. one last play... no, game over! gps take him to the dog house. 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[ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. the battle over abortion rights rages on in the states today. in texas, republicans, in texas, republicans continue to move forward with a bill designed to shut down most of the abortion clinics in the state. which in turn continues to draw demonstrators from both sides of the fight to the state capitol grounds. including state senator wendy davis, star of last month's successful filibuster of the antiabortion bill who helped kick off a statewide bus tour sponsored by plan the parenthood today. former arkansas governor mike huckabee showed up to rally the antiabortion crowd during an event last night. and former pennsylvania senator rick santorum who you might remember tried briefly to run for president on a birth control is not okay platform, announced today he'll be parachuting into texas to lend his support later this week. the texas bill which also bans abortions after 20 weeks got a hearing in the statehouse today. during which republicans spent the day essentially rejecting potential amendments including from within their own party. state rep sarah davis was the only house republican to vote against the bill in the last special session. she offered an amendment today to keep the ban on abortions after 20 weeks with exceptions for the life and health of the woman, rape and incest victims and severe fetal abnormality. she wanted to ditch all the deliberately burdensome regulations designed to shut down clinics. she is pretty sure they're unconstitutional. >> no one wants to see abortion. it is a horrible way to end a pregnancy, but it is a constitutionally protected right. i would ask that you put policy over politics. this debate is not about anyone's primary. this is about passing legislation that protects women and the rights of the unborn in a responsible and constitutional way. >> now, clearly this is still a strongly antiabortion position. apparently not unconstitutional enough for her republican colleagues because they summarily ignored sarah davis' amendment and pressed forward with the bill which is seen as all but certain to pass and be signed into law by rick perry before the end of the month. no matter how many people protest it. meanwhile, republicans in north carolina are working on their own plan to shut down abortion clinics using excessesive red tape. the house committee heard testimony on a bill today that would likely force most of the state's clinics to close their doors under the weight of burdensome targeted new regulations. that measure has already passed the state senate after republicans snuck it into a bill banning sharia law in north carolina last week. today a crowd gathered outside the statehouse to protest the bill as it moves forward. this after thousands of people turned out to protest the bill last night during the now regular moral monday protests that have sprung up in response to the republican majority's radical rightward march this session. last night's rally drew 2,000 protesters, according to police estimates, and 64 protesters who refused to leave the legislative chambers were arrested. that includes janet, the president and ceo of planned parenthood of central north carolina, seen here being led away with her hands behind her back. and fresh from her arrest, janet cohen, president and ceo of planned parenthood of central north carolina, joins me now. janet, why did you decide to get arrested last night in. >> i think it was a combination of several things. i think there were three big things for me. first was obviously the attacks against women's health that are coming out of this legislature. more and more we've got more and more concerned about the extent of these restrictions. and obviously in my belief system and the things that are hold dear, that's reason enough to protest. the second reason is i just feel like my state has been hijacked by people that i really, really disagree with, and that i believe most north carolinians disagree with. i've lived here 40 years. i love this state and i just don't recognize it anymore. and the third reason is increasingly over the last week since we've been fighting these bills, i've been so awestruck at the number of younger people who are coming out to support our position. and i just felt like if there is anything i can do to spur them on and to show the republican leadership that they are on the wrong side of this that i was willing to do that. >> we've been following north carolina, we've been following moral monday, and it's interesting to watch this convergence because it's almost like abortion politics are the black hole of republican base politics particularly in the states. everything gets sucked into abortion politics because that's really where the energy of the base is. and did you figure it was only a matter of time until this very right-wing republican majority in your state came after abortion rights? >> well, i think we've known all along that abortion rights were on the chopping block. i mean, this is something they've been pursuing for years and years. the difference is that right now they're in a position of power. i mean, they've gone after sex education, they've gone after birth control, they've gone after prenatal care. they rejected medicaid expansion which cuts off health care under the affordable care act to half a million north carolinians. so, you know, it was clear to us that abortion was going to be part of that agenda. the other thing i think is really important, chris, and reverend barber with the naacp has said this many times, that we cannot be divided on these issues, and it's really easy for abortion and civil rights and unemployment and health care to seem segmented. but all these issues really hang together, and as far as i'm concerned, they're all civil rights issues and as far as i'm concerned, they're all women's issues. >> the interesting thing to me, given how conservative the state has given given how aggressive the state gop has been, it's fascinating to me to see governor pat mccrory dancing a little bit about whether he's going to sign this thing if it comes to his desk. he said "there's a fine line between safety measures and restrictions. i think parents parts of the bi clearly cross that line and that could add further restrictions to that access. i think that is where we need further assistance." do you in north carolina see an opportunity for an actual victory here? >> well, i think it's way too early to declare victory. we know we've got a really hard fight ahead of us. the thing i think is so encouraging is people are just coming out of the woodwork. we've had thousands of people over the last couple weeks come down to rally on these issues. you know, we've turned out 600 pro-choice people in a matter of hours after they snuck this bill into the sharia law that you mentioned. >> yeah. it's been amazing to watch. we've been watching the moral monday protest. we've been watching the bill. i was saying this morning at our meeting the organizer down there is just lighting a small fire, just every week blowing on it. it's incredible to watch what's happening. janet colm from planned parenthood of central north carolina. thank you so much. when i come back, i'll talk to someone who is waging this legal fight across the country. look i'm in a committed relationship with activia and i've been happy now with activia greek i can have the best of both. activia greek. ♪ dannon the ones getting involved and staying engaged. they're not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is "how did i end up here?" i started schwab for those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. an abortion is much different than getting your tonsils out or, you know -- >> in what sense is it different? >> well, it's the only procedure, well, it's only procedure that when it is done there is a life that is taken. you can have complications in that procedure and so the procedures are there to help deal with some of those complications. >> so you're suggesting there's more medical complications with abortions than some of these other procedures that are done in surgical centers? >> that is how debate was playing out today in texas over a bill that would likely shut down post of the state's abortion clinics if allowed to become law. it's what's known as a trap law, a bill full of burdensome regulations and red tape targeted specifically at abortion providers and designed to shut them down. the texas trap law does the same thing mississippi famously tried to do last year endangering that state's only remaining clinic. requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. which sounds like a pretty reasonable requirement as often billed by republicans, as you just saw, as a safety issue for women. joining me now to explain why what sounds like a reasonable regulation is really a trap is jordan goldberg for the u.s. legal program at the center for reproductive rights. great to have you here. >> thank you for having me. >> it's been fascinating to watch this play out in the states. it seems like there's two things happening. 20-week bans. this is all the rage in antiabortion circles. 20-week bans in a number of states. 20-week ban part of texas law. we're hearing marco rubio will introduce a senate version of 20-week van to go with trent franks' version in the house. attached to the 20-week bans are the attacks on the clinics, themselves. what does it mean to require a clinic to say, have, admitting privileges? why is that twhactually a that? why shouldn't we think that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do? there there are a couple of reasons why these are traps. t.r.a.p., sometimes we use it as an acronym. look at the motivation behind i law. why would you require admitting for abortions and not for something else that's done regularly every day in an outpatient clinic? it's not necessarily necessary. you're doing it to make sure abortion providers can't continue to do abortions. abortion has the highest safety record of any surgical procedure in the country. it has one of the lowest complication rates. it almost never rulesults in someone needing to two to the hospital. admitting privileges are really hard to get. >> right. >> for a variety of reasons. you pass one of these laws and you shut down the clinic. >> there's other ways in which -- there's other kind of novel ways in which states have come up with this, you know, having to register as an ambulatory center to meet some kind of regulatory threshold. >> right. >> that's what's going on right now in a few states as well. >> right. so texas and north carolina are both considered ambulatory surgical center requirements which up until a few years ago were unheard of for abortion procedures. the reason is they're simply not necessary. ambulatory surgical hospitals are hospitals. they're where you go if you have really complicated procedures. abortion is a very simple surgical -- >> asking abortions to meet a regulatory threshold as if they were hospitals. >> as if they were hospitals, yes. >> there have been lawsuits against these kinds of laws. there was a temporary restraining order issued by a judge in wisconsin yesterday, wisconsin version of this law. we've seen a federal judge temporarily enjoin the execution of a law in alabama that would do the same thing. what is the legal basis for contesting this? why does this violate the law? >> well, we've now seen three courts in the last several months do this. mississippi, alabama and wisconsin. all for the same reason which is that the u.s. supreme court has said a woman has a right to choose to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability. that is her personal privacy right under the 14th amendment. states can pass laws regulating that. what they can't do is put a substantial obstacle in front of women who are seeking the right to terminate. >> if you can come before the court and convince the court that the intent of these laws is what they are plainly to anyone watching, which is essentially to shut down abortion clinics. as lieutenant governor dewhurst, by linking it to a tweet of plan the parenthood. >> both the purpose and the effect. all three of the courts have said, look, this is is going to shut down the only clinic in the state, three of the five clinics in the state, half the clinics in the state making it so women have to travel hundreds of miles. >> fight is not over if the texas law passes for precisely the reason you

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