Inappropriate contact. More than 10,000 people have also signed a petition asking that los angeles former archbishop mahoney recuse himself from conclave. The demands after thousands of documents released last month reveal that he was directly involved in covering up priests who abused children. All of this comes after last weeks bombshell report by the italian newspaper that says an internal 300page report uncovered an underground gay network at the vatican. Claudio lavagna is live for us in rome. So far the vatican attempted to dismiss much of whats developing and breaking today. Reporter well, and tamron, this morning, people sense and feel the anticipation. There in the Vatican Press room, they had a big announcement to make and packed with hundreds of journalists from all over the world. He said one big news, we got two. As you mentioned, the pope decided to change the cannon law that sets the rules for the conclave to move up the conclave set to start sometime between march 15th through the 20th. Well now the cardinals can decide to move it up and maybe start as early as the first days of march. On top of that, of course, we got told we were told by the spokesperson that Pope Benedict xvi accepted the resignation of Cardinal Obrien. When we asked he was not allowed in to the conclave, he said thats not for the pope to decide, it is only a decision that a cardinal can take. Cardinal obrien did take that decision and made it public shortly afterwards and published a statement saying that he didnt want all the Media Attention on him and even offered his apologies to those he may have offended due to his failures. Well, this sets an important precedent. I mean, never before a cardinal renounced to his right to participate in the conclave. The election of the new pontiff. The highest moment of any cardinal in the Catholic Church, of course, due to a scandal engulfing him. Of course now all eyes on mahoney of los angeles. Hes said that he will come to rome to vote anyway despite the scandal that engulfed him, accused of covering up abuses by priests. He was meant to oversee in the past. Lets see if the cardinals decision will change his mind. Tamron . Thank you, claudio. More now on Cardinal Roger mahoney blasted for the handling of sex abuse allegations back 30 years. On saturday, a threehour deposition in a case of a priest that may have abused up ed chin the 90s. Joining me now is james salt, executive director of catholics united. One of the groups that protested this weekend. Thank you for your time. As we understand it, the cardinal tweeted out or communicated via the internet he is in rome and plans to participate with the conclave. What is your response so his defiance . Well, we believe that Cardinal Roger mahoneys calling on him to recuse himself is a crisis of leadership in catholici catholicism. Tell me more about your organization and mission. As we understand it, the cardinals believe it is their responsibility to god and to the church to participate in this. Why is it so important for mahoney in your opinion and that of your organization to recuse himself at this point . Well, we believe that Cardinal Obrien set a precedence that he should follow. The grave impediment is that he perpetrated, coverup of ped feel yeah and we believe thats a great impediment. Catholics united is a network of thousands of social justice catholics who want the church to be a relevant voice in the public debate. Instead of celebrating the future, just distracted by the sins of the leaders and general lack of accountability. We know that for example Cardinal Bernard law in the last conclave, there were people that wanted him to recuse himself given what was happening in boston. He did not. How difficult or at least what kind of an adversities have you come up against when attempting to get mahoney to recuse himself . Frankly, theres a culture of insular leadership that is not open to the voice of the laity in this helping manage the affairs of the church and not just roger mahoney. Cardinal law wont be voting, over the age of 80. Archbishop of kansas are accused of covering up but in the instance of mahony joined by Cardinal George will be voting and we feel thats a grave scandal. This is a quote from cardinal mahonys blog, been stripped of the public responsibilities as a part of the punishment for the allegations which included allowing a priest to flee to mexico after he was accused of molesting children. According to the information on record, the priest was told that he may be in danger as a result of families turning him in to police. So in a sense he was tipped off, if you will, that families may go in and turn him in for these allegations of molesting the children but mahony today said i cant recall a time such as now when people tend to be so judgmental and even so self rye house is. No quick to accuse, judge and condemn and often with scant real facts and information. Whatever happened to the norm of giving others the benefit of a doubt until hard evidence was proven elsewhere . The record is clear that he perpetrated acts of coverup in his diocese. That is beyond question to this point. But moving forward, the Catholic Church needs to be more accountable especially to the voice of laity governing the affairs of the church and focus less on the issues of sexuality such as the opposition of gay marriage and contraception and what can unite us and acting on behalf of Climate Change or the World Economy for the needs of the people. These are the issues to unite catholics to celebrate the rule of the catholic faith in the public debate. If the cardinal does not recuse himself, do you believe that the church missed an opportunity to i guess go to the next chapter even if you can with such allegations still pending in courts both civil and criminal perhaps one day . Absolutely. You know, frankly, the sex abuse scandal is the stain of the church and its something that the next pontiff will have to address first. What better signal to christs love for the world could the church send than for the cardinal to use the tens of thousands of dollars to fupd the trip to the vatican and give it to the victims. Thats more in line with the teachings of jesus. Thank you. Thank you. Congress returned to capitol hill minutes ago but are they doing anything to avert the cuts that you know take effect friday . Well ask congresswoman moore. Plus, the Supreme Court takes up the Voting Rights challenge this week. Should voting laws of states with a history of discrimination still be subject to federal oversight . Well talk with South Carolina congressman james clyburn. A veteran of the civil rights movement. And the website the onion just a short time ago issued a rare apology after brutally insulting oscar nominated child actress Quvenzhane Wallis over twitter during last Nights Academy awards. What the tweet said, plus the many people who are coming down in her defense. 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Now to the latest on the sequester and the question, who bleeds the most . Our First Read Team writes both sides are assessing and considering the strategy. President obama made a case to the nations governors at the white house. These cuts do not have to happen. Congress can turn them off any time with just a little bit of compromise. To do so democrats like me need to acknowledge that were going to have to make modest reforms in medicare if we want the program there for future generations but we also need republicans to adopt the same approach to tax reform that Speaker Boehner championed just two months ago. Well soon hear from House Speaker john boehner. We just heard from Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano talking about layoffs of Border Patrol agents and warned, quote, i dont think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country. The senate is back in session. It will gavel to order after a weeklong recess. The house returns at 5 00. Joining me now, queen moore of wisconsin, member of the house budget and Financial Services committee. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Our First Read Team says both sides are laying the groundwork to see who bleeds the most after march 1st. After the spending cuts, who holds the negotiates upper hand . Bottom line, both sides here, they dont know how it plays out but youre banking on the other guy or gal losing the most here. Well, i can tell you one of the things i feel very concerned about, tamron, is that people seem to be oblivious to the austerity this will cause. Ive heard many commentators, many members of congress and folks even on your station msnbc like the morning joe say, oh, you know, these are only 3 of the total budget, it amounts only to that much, and so, you know, this is a runaway train thats running off track of where the American People need to be and where our economy needs to focus. So if thats the case during this time of recovery. The president speaking earlier to the governors. Speaker boehner. Seems to be all talk and no action. If this is the sunaway train that you and the president and Speaker Boehner said we face, why arent there any meetings scheduled today . I can tell you. Im not on the negotiating team but i can tell you that i think democrats are poised to carry this thing over the finish line. I dont think were the problem at all. I think the president has talked to us a variety of times, for example, about the modest or changes that may need to come in the area of medicare. And i can as a democrat i can envision how we can do that. Delivery of service as we have it now is is inefficient. If you go in to a hospital room you will see the doctors swipe use the bar code to swipe a band aid or to swipe a bar code. To charge what is a cover of time magazine, ten times the value of a pill so i think theres changes to be made to this program. I dont think democrats are the reason were not able to bring this to the fore. Right. Your state alone, for example, the white house released information on how states will be affected individually here. Perhaps people will be able to understand when its right in their backyard but your state, 8. 5 million for education. 120 teachers enaide jobs at risk. 3,000 civilian workers could be furloughed. Thats exactly right. You know bottom line is here those numbers are as you point out the white house says right numbers but what do you tell the people, the teachers, the civilian workers who may as a result be laid off the job . Not so much of whos to blame but whats next here . Well, i can tell you that i stand ready as their representative in the 4th kon Congressional District to end this. But again, as a member of the minority party, i dont get to bring a bill to the floor. And as quiet as its kept, the president isnt a member of the house of representatives either. And he cant bring a bill to the house. Only Speaker Boehner and majority leader cantor can bring a bill. And yes, while everyone, my governor, for example, says, oh, we wont be affected that much. We dont have a really big Defense Force and as you pointed out 3,000 civilians will be furloughed or laid off in the Defense Industry in wisconsin. 10 million will be lost for disabled children. And i mean, you know, a half million here, a half million for juvenile justice programs, senior feeding programs right. Women, infant and children programs. You name it. Its a death by a thousand cuts. And i dont think that democrats in the house are were waiting for a bill and waiting for the house of representatives to give us an opportunity to end this stalemate. Congresswoman, thank you for your time. Hoping to talk with you soon on this issue. And you know i dont know what just happened but im sorry. She had another point to make and we have to move on. Awkward but its live. Joining me now, carrie woodruffbrown or politico and strategist chris kofonis. Our apologies to the congresswoman. Chris, the bottom line is you heard her say this is not the faults of democrats. She believes. As your party believes, that Speaker Boehner dropped the ball here. He is not making the next move. The republicans have not put up a proposal and theyre not prepared for a vote here. Well, you know, its pretty clear that the republicans have come to terms with the fact they want the sequester to go through and the question i guess becomes how much pain is there going to be . If you look at where the cuts are, i mean, the problem i think here and what the American People need to be aware of, its indiscriminate cuts. You have to do across the board equal cuts. That was the whole point here. That was the entire point of the deal that was reached between the president and republicans and that it would be so brutal and unfathomable we wouldnt get to this point. Here we are. Root canal politics usually doesnt work and right now the republicans sit there and wait and to see how much pain there will be. The problem they have and looking at a calendar, march 27th when the continued resolution expires and talk about funding the government and they start losing leverage right there so you have a lot of pain growing and youre going to start seeing some real pain across the key states in education, defense, health care whatever it might be. And then you have the continuing resolution being negotiated. Theyll lose a lot of leverage on that but theyre counting on a different reaction clearly. Carrie, let me play some of the gop governors this weekend on the sequester. Theres a lot of buzz over the fact theres not a united i guess speaking or talking point if you will from republicans and lets play a sampling of these governors. The uncertainty of sequestration is harming the states and our national economy. The sequester was put in place to be a hammer, not a policy. And now here we are a week away. Find another way to do it and get it done. Arizona, too, we have ratheon and got the federal government over there. In my opinion, not doing their jb. I think there should be a limited government but i dont like random changes. I didnt do across the board cuts. Politicians say 10 . I didnt do this. Carrie, how do thank you change the game if at all with the comments of reasonably popular governors in their states . I think the white house likes the clips played on loop for a week or so. Thats what theyre looking for is an idea, seeing more republicans break away from the leadership, just republicans and congress and certainly outside of washington saying we just need to get this resolved in any which way and see republicans say we should consider taxes. Folks over there earlier today ticking off the names of republicans saying theyre open to taxes and i think every time you see a break from that line, that, you know, no new taxes, you see the white house put it on blast because thats part of the strategy of dividing and isolating republicans. It is interesting putting it on blast. You have a lot of republicans who the strategy is, bob woodrow and the oped saying that the sequester was the white houses idea. Quote, obama personally approved of the plan for his negotiators jack lew. You have senator mccain and many others using this as a way to your point to put the white house on blast. Let me play what they said. Theres a bob wood row piece this morning that gives the ticktock of who really the idea for sequestration was. Woodrow says it was president obama to promote the sequester. He has a great piece telling the president , basically, he doesnt use these words but the president has amnesia about this. The white house said theres never been a question that the president seeking revenue was expected from the very beginning. Woodrows piece implied that was not the president s focus with the revenue. Bottom line, you both answer this. Is this exactly what the First Read Team tal