Secretary of the navy in new york news. Mr. Secretary, its great to have you with me. Lets start off, first off, by explaining theres been criticism by the right about the president s pr campaign to go around and talk about what these cuts really mean, the demonstration of it all. And listen to how john boehner has listened to the president on the road. The president has been traveling all over the country and today, going down to newport news in order to use our military men and women as a problem in yet another Campaign Rally to support his tax hikes. Mr. Secretary, how do you respond to that . Do you think the president is using our nations military as a prop . Well, the military leadership of this nation, both in uniform and civilian, is going to capitol hill for the last year and explaining how bad sequestration would be, what a bad idea this would be, how it would impact military readiness and how it would impact the ability of the navy, marine corps, and the other parts of the military to defend this country. And i think its important for the president and for everybody to talk about what this means to talk about how damaging this will be to the men and women of our military, to the people who support them, to the people who work at places like newport news ship building and all around the norfolk area of virginia and in this country. This is a bad idea. This was a bad idea at the beginning. It was never supposed to happen. And now that were at the 11th hour, it hasnt gotten any better and i think its incredibly important that we explain exactly what will happen. We didnt deploy the truman and our strike group to the middle east because of this sequestration. We have two aircraft carriers, one being built now and one about to be built that could be stopped or certainly delayed in sequestration hits and sticks. Those are real impacts to americas military readiness. Sir, i want to point out what will happen. As we point out the area around hampton road. The army base operation funding could be cut by 146 million. The air force funding for air force operations cut by 8 million. The navy canceling the maintenance of 11 ships in norfolk and 90,000 civilian employees furloughed and you point out that the truman not deploying for the middle east. Where do you think the right and left can meet in the middle . Do you agree that there are areas in the Defense Budget that need to be reexamined and better allocated . Absolutely. We need to make smart cuts in defense. We need to make cuts that wont affect our National Security. The president has presented a balanced plan that matches up with strategy and a very comprehensive plan to avoid sequestration, to make the adjustment and cuts to the defense that are needed for the future but make them in a smart way, not in this meatax approach and mindless way that both sequestration and the continuing resolution which we will lurch to another artificial budget crisis until something is done. We just cannot run a military lurching from one budget crisis to another. Weve got to have some certainty and i think the president has submitted a very comprehensive plan that will require compromise but thats what the job of this government ought to be about. Thats what Congress Needs to take up and make sure that this does not have the impact that it is going to have, both on the workers, the federal workers at our federal shipyard here that will lose up to 20 of their salary and not on the workers at private shipyards like newport news and other shipyards in this area. Those are huge numbers in terms of workers that will be affected, in terms of the Ripple Effect that goes out from that. And in terms of what it does to the navy and to the marine corps. The job of the navy, the job of the marine corps, the job of the rest of our military is to protect this country. And sequestration and the continuing resolution and the uncertainty and threats that those pose make those jobs much harder to do. Secretary ray mabus of the u. S. Navy. Thanks for your time. The president s live remarks coming up at 1 05. Keep it locked in. Another big story unfolding in washington, 75 prominent republicans signing a bref in support of Marriage Equality. This Major Development happening with the Supreme Court about to take up both the defense of marriage act and californias proposition 8. I want to bring in niamalika henderson, a reporter for the Washington Post, ron geg nan reagan and michelle bernard. Its a big morning as we talk about this Huge Development from the right from Marriage Equality. Lets talk about who is on this. We have jon huntsman, meg whitman, representative richard hanna, Steven Hadley, carlos gutierrez. Niamalika, what is your opinion about how this is moving . If you look at those polls, particularly among younger people, there is a sense that government should be kept out of peoples personal lives. That in fact is the primary argument that the tea party makes about the role of government. Here you have 70 prominent republicans, most of whom are moderate, making very conservative arguments for gay marriage saying that to protect really the institution of marriage, that gays should be allowed to get married in the way that men and women are allowed to get married to each other. This is a real shift and also weve seen a huge cultural shift as well. Lets face it, we saw mitt romney, a candidate courting the religious right but also saying that his favorite show was modern family. So i think that republicans have to figure out which way they are going to go with this issue. Two very powerful names that have been spearheading this opposition, i got an email from ken. He said the men and women who sign this brief are a microcausm as people come to realize that marriage is consistent with freedom and fairness and protects religious liberties. Ken mehlman is the former rnc chair. Whats your reaction to these big names on the right, some that have never, ever voiced support before . If you look at the names on this list, what you see are sensible, centrist republicans. They realize that their party is in big trouble. It was mentioned a moment ago that generationally and when youre talking about young people now, young people dont even understand why this conversation is taking place. Some of them are surprised that gay people cant get married already across the country. They are astonished when they sort of realize that. They get to college age or whatever. So these are people trying to reposition the Republican Party in a more sensible, centrist way that tracks with the way the rest of the country is feeling. Weve come a long way in the last ten years. Marriage equality is accepted as an idea by the vast majority of americans and the republicans who wont go along with that are dooming themselves and by connection, their party. We talk about sensible republicans and one thing that has been discussed is the sensibilities of Chris Christie and the fact that he has not been invited to cpac coming up. Theres a headline by politico, Chris Christie not invited to cpac. The group on the right that supports Marriage Equality also not invited to cpac. Here are the speakers. Mitt romney, sarah palin, fred cruz, michelle santorum. What is your reaction, a guy that comes from a blue state that has numbers through the roof would not be invited to cpac which is considered the beauty pageant of republicans. They did Chris Christie a huge favor by not inviting him and having him decline the invitation. If you look at the people speaking, you have to wonder to yourself, does the Republican Party or the quote unquote sort of establishment conservatives within the Republican Party really want to win elections in the future . Chris christie, and people like Chris Christie, are the future of the Republican Party and i think it speaks volumes that they were not invited to speak at cpac. Weve got commonsense, sensible moderate republicans on the roof and then people who want to take us back to the dark ages and they are going to be the reason why the Republican Party continues to lose elections at the national level. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Joe scarborough broke that down this morning. Take a listen. This underlies the big problem about the conservative movement over the past few years. Its not about winning. Its just not about winning. It is not about winning. It is about sitting inside of an echo chamber of resentment. Ron, let me ask you. Is the right going to start winning when they actually put out a candidate who understands that to be able to win they also have to afford to be able to lose . It seems that most of these people that have been invited to cpac are trying to hock a book. They understand that if there is somebody on the left, they could lose but they have to be willing to stand out front and lead. Well, thats right. I mean, the Republican Party has to ask itself, do they want to tie itself to this sort of tea party far right religious right ideology and you will end up with two republican parties. It will split in two. Youll have the extremists on one side and the other. The deep weeds forever at that point, the democrats will always win elections. So what do the republicans want to do now about this . Do they want to hang on to this outdated medieval ideology or do they want to join the 21st century like the rest of most americans want to do . Its up to them. Thank you to my power panel. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, Congressional Republicans appear willing to let the budget cuts take effect even if the military takes a huge hit. And our question of the day, can moderate republicans change their partys view on Marriage Equality . Tweet me or find us on facebook. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. Take tylenol or take aleve, the 1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. Just two aleve can keep pain away all day. Back to the news. [ whirring ] [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. But they can also hold you back. Unless you ask, whats next . [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the next level of performance. The next level of innovation. The next rx. The f sport. This is the pursuit of perfection. The f sport. Ive always had to keep my eye on her. But, i didnt always watch out for myself. With so much noise about health care. I tuned it all out. With unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters. My individual health profile. Not random statistics. They even reward me for addressing my health risks. So im doing fine. But shes still going to give me a heart attack. Coming up, congressional looking out for more than 70 million americans. Thats health in numbers. Unitedhealthcare. In the ongoing showdown of the sequester excuse me. Were going to go to this shot here. This is air force one as the president is getting ready to head to newport news, virginia. Getting the fiscal house in order is much more important than the defense. 43 billion would be gutted from the pentagon this year. This morning on jansing co. , decorated msnbc military analyst jack jacobs said that the cuts will hurt military readyingness. In addition to fact and theres plenty of fact youre also going to cut ammunition, fuel, repair parts for aircraft, flying hours, training time. And just moments ago, i had the opportunity to speak with Navy Secretary ray mabus who said this way of cutting is hurting our military. We just cannot run a military lurching from one crisis to another. Weve got to have some certainty and i think the president has presented a very balanced plan that will require some compromise. Joining me is lynn jenkins of kansas. Congresswoman, its great to have you with me. I understand you took part in the conference that was held at the top of the hour and at the same time democrats held their own briefing. Congressman Chris Van Hollen made quite an anolg about the cuts. Take a listen. Rearranging the cuts is like rearranging the jobs either way. What is the illustration and what that means . Well, i dont think we are quarrelling with the amount dollar amount of the cuts. What were quarrelling about is where they hit. We are concerned about their military readiness and National Security and that is why House Republicans twice last year passed a legislation so we couldnt come to this day. When we look at what your colleagues are saying, such as republican congressman ready to stand your ground regardless of the defense cuts, they misunderstood what happened on the fiscal cliff. They thought they had republicans on the run when all they did was push us to the high ground. You want to charge the hill. Come on. That was congressman cole. Hes sticking by the fact that he thinks that the sequester is inevitable. Do you believe that this is inevitable . This is not our first choice. I want to make that clear. The sequester was the president s idea. The house passed legislation to replace it twice last year. This is a senatemanufactured crisis, if you will, because they chose twice to ignore the issue last year and here we are just days away from the sequester hitting. The president himself even threatened to veto any legislation that would replace the sequester. So at this point it is truly up to the senate and the president to pass something if they want to change it at this point. There is nothing more republicans can do. We cant act unilaterally. So the ball is in their court. You announced that the department of Homeland Security awarded a 40 Million Contract to build a biodefense facility and you said in that, its an important step when our nation is looking for significant budget savings. This contract is further evidence we can still find funds for miion critical projects. As we look at where we are as the country, to be war ready and to have military preparedness in check, how do we factor that in with the fact that we are still a nation at war . Arent there places where we need to evaluate where there is an area to cut back thats just not over entitlement, that the left would rather see left in tact . Well, again, i believe the first function of the federal government should be to protect us and thats why we are concerned about the funding. I represent ft. Leavenworth. Training there is part of our military readiness. I believe those should be protected. We are going to take in more money than the federal government has ever taken in in the history of our nation. We are going to take that out of the American Peoples pockets and our spending this year, even if the sequester kicks in, is going to exceed what it was last year. Chairman vice chairman van hollens comment about rearranging the debt share, i think people need to keep this in perspective. All we need is flexibility to prioritize the spending so that we dont risk military readiness but we have plenty of ways, ridiculous washington spending that can be cut. We just have to root it out. Congressman lynn jenkins, thank you for joining me. Sure. Could a vote finally happen for chuck hagel today . Senator barrasso says hes not the right man for this job. Plus, look at this. Getting slammed by a blizzard in the midwest. Well explain it all. First, todays producer pic selected by our executive producer, gay rights, a lesbian mom but not biological mom is presented the same rights as a biological mother. You can check out the whole story on my facebook page. [ male announcer ] its simple physics. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. While a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. But if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. Prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. Because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. 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